Distill the Life that's Inside of Me

Gardenings

2008-07-07T19:42:00.000-07:00

Tomatoes, finally flowering.

Spider, Orb Weaver eating Dragonfly

Trimet's New Look

2008-06-20T09:34:00.000-07:00

Trimet just updated their trip planner, it now incorporates an interactive map. The map lets you see streetviews (using Google) of transit centers, as well as a few other new features.

Dig it here.

The Strawberry Wars

2008-06-18T14:08:00.000-07:00

This year we've started a few strawberry plants, and in doing so, started a war.

My enemies:

Slugs

This is Oregon, slug country, we have MANY slugs in our yard. I have a few weapons to combat slugs.

The Beer Trap:
Take a used plastic butter tub, or soup can, or any smallish container, pour a small amount of cheap beer about an inch to two inches deep (this is the best use for PBR I have ever heard of, MUCH better than drinking it anyway.). Then dig a small hole deep enough to get the lip of the container at ground level, to make it easier for the slugs to enter. The slugs are attracted to the yeast in the beer, when they enter the tub of beer, they drown.

Eggshells:
Crushed eggshells placed on (and in) the ground around the base of your plants deter/kill slugs. Slugs as you know are slimy soft bodied fellers, and when they crawl acrossed the sharp eggshells the get many small lacerations which dehydrates them. Another benefit of eggshells in the garden dirt, they provide much needed calcium (be sure to wash the shells before placing them in gardens, you don't want salmanella on your strawberries).

A Tarp:
I'm sure others have done this, but I found when I set my tent out in the yard to air out recently, I found myself with a rather large collection of slugs on the bottom, in a fairly short amount of time. So instead of leaving my tent out every night, I just use a piece of tarp, I then collect the slugs and dispose of them.

Earwigs

They are harmless to humans, but not to your plants. Earwigs are omnivores, so they will eat other bugs (which is good), but they also eat plants. A good way to tell if your plants are being eaten by earwigs is to look for small irregular holes in the leaves (much like what slugs do to the plant, but you won't see the slime trail of a slug).

The weapons:

Vegetable Oil Trap:
Take a tuna can, fill it with vegetable oil, add a drop or so of bacon grease. Much like the beer trap for slugs, earwigs are attracted to the oil, crawl in the can, and drown.

Roll of Newspaper:
Earwigs hide during the day in small dark crevices. Roll up a newspaper and place it in your garden (I have a small container garden, so one or two rolls should suffice), the next day, shake out the earwigs into a bucket of water.

I have other enemies, but they have not joined the war (yet). Here are a few that I keep an eye out for:
STRAWBERRY FLEA BEETLE

STRAWBERRY LEAF BEETLE

STRAWBERRY WEEVIL

IMBRICATED SNOUT BEETLE

ASIATIC GARDEN BEETLE

Stay tuned for more Urban gardening in P-town.

Stacked Urban Planter

2008-06-05T19:39:00.000-07:00

I took the idea from here, built a rudimentary version in Google Sketchup

I'll start gathering supplies on craigslist, should be able to get everything I need in the free section.

Bastards Stole Ma' Bike!

2008-05-20T19:37:00.000-07:00

Just recently finished building my RecycloBurningManGroceryGetter bike, and what happens today?

Somebody stole it!

It's enough to make baby jesus cry.

It was a real work of art, completely recycled. The only thing that I had purchased new was the paint.
A lot of people didn't like it, but they just don't understand, I loved it.

May the thief rot in hell (all thieves for that matter)!

Why am I anti-burning man?

2008-02-16T13:19:00.000-08:00

That my friend is a GREAT question, that not even I am able to fully answer.

I've never been to it, so really does my opinion even count? I don't know, but have YOU been to a NASCAR race? Probably not, but if you're reading this, you most likely dislike NASCAR in a very big way.

I've heard soooo many stories from "burners" that extol the festival's greatness, hell I'm in love with one of them (a burner, not a story).

Maybe I feel like the festival is increasingly hypocritical. The party is run by a LLC (Limited Liability Company), that turns a profit (~$600,000 for 2006), to me that flies in the face of the bartering only culture within the festival. Oh, but they donate to non-profits, such as Black Rock Arts Foundation you say. Wouldn't you hate to know that between 2001 and 2005 BRAF raised nearly $300,000 but paid out a mere $82,000 to the artist they claim to support (also of note, BRAF got an "exceptionally poor" rating from non-profit watchdog group Charity Navigator), I don't know about you, but if I'm giving to a charity I'd want a better turn around than that!

I'm not even going to start in on the photography contracts that must be signed, if you actually read them, and weed out the double-speak used by the writers, you'll see it for what it is, corporate control.

Then we have the environmental impact on the playa, or even the environment in general. which is downplayed by Black Rock City LLC.

"Black Rock City LLC is committed to utilizing environmentally favorable solutions as they become financially sound alternatives to the use of fossil fuels and non-renewable materials. We encourage our staff and participants to use these alternatives in their camps in Black Rock City, and further to promote and encourage environmental awareness and make use of emerging technologies. We are determined to promote and continue to support the Leave No Trace principles, the use of renewable energy, the use of non-fossil fuels, recycling valuable reusable materials, and composting organic waste materials when ever possible.
We are open to suggestions toward making the Burning Man experience environmentally sound and we will utilize new methods and technology as they become suitable to our needs. Help us make Black Rock City environmentally viable.
Signed,
Board of Directors
Black Rock City LLC"

O'rly? do you honestly think your green efforts make any kind of dent in the environmental impact of ~40,000 people driving or flying to Nevada, buying ridiculous amounts of bottled water, beer, packaged foods (99% of which use plastic packaging, erm uh I mean oil packaging). Or the impact of those 40,000 people running around the desert. What about the improperly handled diesel fuel, the fireworks, the thousands of fires, the garbage that gets buried and never removed from the site, the wood and other resources used for building the "art" throughout the festival, and so on and so on, I'd go so far as to say Burning Man is now the worst polluting festival ever, EVER! (run on sentence FTW!)
I don't know, I could go on with many more arguments against the festival. I really do like the ideology behind it, but really it has gotten out of hand. I could be COMPLETELY wrong.
I do plan on going someday, when life permits. And I go with the hope that my mind will be changed.

and no I didn't proofread for grammar, meh...

Happy Burning,
-jacob

Portland Critical Mass, c'mon guys play by the rules

2008-02-05T07:37:00.000-08:00

(from www.rosecitycriticalmass.org)

"Critical Mass is:

- A leaderless, spontaneous bike ride through the streets of Portland (and hundreds of other cities worldwide)
- A time to ride your bike without fear through busy downtown streets
- A great way to meet other bicyclists, pass out fliers, learn about other events
- A meandering celebration of bicycling
- Something different for everyone
- Family-friendly
- A visionary projection of what our future might look like"

(A rider account from several years ago)

"Someone in the group yelled out "lets take both lanes". No one responded but someone decided to go out in between cars, then I followed with a few others and we again chanted "Who's Bridge?" "OUR BRIDGE!". We chanted loud and it meant something because we had taken the bridge even if it was only one direction. Right before we got off the bridge someone said to look back at all the cars we had backed up. I looked back and I felt as if I had won a battle, it felt like instead of riding my bike and being scared of the cars racing past me that the cars instead had to slow down and notice that they are not the only people on the streets."

Getting the word out that motorists are not the only one on the road, yes. Going out of your way to block 2 lanes of traffic (all lanes for that direction), no, not cool. This kind of action justs pisses people off, and gives cyclists a bad rep, potentially causing motorists to go out of THEIR way to piss cyclists off. Bicycles must follow pretty much all the same laws that cars do.

So for those Masser's that might be reading this, please ride responsibly, and give motorists a reason to respect you, not ammunition to disrespect you.

/soapbox

Hrm, been a while...

2008-02-04T21:28:00.001-08:00

Lotsa new stuff since last time I posted, no... I'm not gonna bore you with the details.

Instead, some bike porn!
my new roadbike, thanks to my sister!

Just built up a single speed too, all I need is a chain tensioner and I'm in business (actually rides pretty well the way it is).

Because Windows is Lame...

2007-12-16T20:11:00.000-08:00

Tired of Winblows? Go get your Linux on...

Probably the easiest to use Linux distribution yet!

Yeah, tell that to the soldiers...

2007-11-02T09:12:00.000-07:00

These guys piss me off, they go and get a job that gives them fat government scratch, then bitch and whine when they are sent off to do their job.

"Mr Crocker said diplomats who refused were "in the wrong line of business""

Link to the story

Dems, Repubs... Who Needs 'em?

2007-05-24T23:04:00.000-07:00

Why Congress Caved to Bush
By Patrick Buchanan

The antiwar Democrats are crying betrayal -- and justifiably so.

For a Democratic Congress is now voting to fully fund the war in Iraq, as demanded by President Bush, and without any timetable for a U.S. troop withdrawal. Bush got his $100 billion, then magnanimously agreed to let Democrats keep the $20 billion in pork they stuffed into the bill -- to soothe the pain of their sellout of the party base.

Remarkable. If the Republican rout of 2006 said anything, it was that America had lost faith in the Bush-Rumsfeld conduct of the war and wanted Democrats to lead the country out.

Yet, today, there are more U.S. troops in Iraq than when the Democrats won. More are on the way. And with the surge and retention of troops in Iraq beyond normal tours, there should be a record number of U.S. troops in country by year's end.

Why did the Democrats capitulate?

Because they lack the courage of their convictions. Because they fear the consequences if they put their antiwar beliefs into practice. Because they are afraid if they defund the war and force President Bush to withdraw U.S. troops, the calamity he predicts will come to pass and they will be held accountable for losing Iraq and the strategic disaster that might well ensue.

Democrats are an intimidated party. The reasons are historical. They were shredded by Nixon and Joe McCarthy for FDR's surrenders to Stalin at Tehran and Yalta, for losing China to Mao's hordes, for the "no-win war" in Korea, for being "soft on communism."

The best and the brightest -- JFK's New Frontiersmen -- were held responsible for plunging us into Vietnam and proving incapable of winning the war. A Democratic Congress cut off aid to Saigon in 1975, ceding Southeast Asia to Hanoi and bringing on the genocide of Pol Pot.

Democrats know they are distrusted on national security. They fear that if they defund this war and bring on a Saigon ending in the Green Zone, it will be a generation before they are trusted with national power. And power is what the party is all about.

Link

Easter Goodies for the Youngin'

2007-04-07T18:17:00.000-07:00

Hehe, check out what we got Lily for Easter (I never got any EASTER presents, WTF?). Steph has a bike, now Lily has a bike. Man, I really need to finish building up my bike!

You!!!

2007-04-06T16:21:00.000-07:00

Pic of Ryan through Chris' "solar hit" magnifying glass

Boy on skunk cannabis butchered a grandmother

2007-04-06T15:42:00.000-07:00

Boy on skunk cannabis butchered a grandmother
3rd April 2007 - dailymail.co.uk

A teenager who was crazed by high-strength cannabis butchered a grandmother after 'voices in his head' told him to stab a woman.

Ezekiel Maxwell, a paranoid schizophrenic, launched the horrific attack after years of smoking super-strength 'skunk weed'.

The 17-year-old claimed 'gangster voices' from the ultra-violent computer game Grand Theft Auto had set him on a mission to stab a black woman.

He is the second teenage cannabis addict in a month to be found guilty of killing others after smoking the substance. Thomas Palmer, 18, was jailed for life for murdering his two friends with a hunting knife near their homes in Wokingham, Berkshire.

Maxwell prowled the streets with a kitchen knife until he came across Carmelita Tulloch as she walked to her job at a photocopying firm.

He stabbed her seven times, leaving her to die in a pool of blood as he fled home to his family. The case highlights the dangers of the highly potent 'skunk'.

The number of under-18s treated for smoking the drug has doubled to nearly 10,000 in a year and medical experts said the link between it and mental health problems is now impossible to ignore.

Maxwell attacked 51-year-old Mrs Tulloch on September 5 last year after a night smoking skunk and playing Grand Theft Auto.

He believed he was one of the principal characters called Carl Johnson, who carries a knife in the Playstation game, Croydon Crown Court was told.

Judge Warwick McKinnon said it was "a vile and quite senseless killing of an entirely innocent woman".

Simon Denison, prosecuting, told the court: "Maxwell had been planning to stab a woman for seven days, it had to be a black Afro-Caribbean woman. He didn't know why he had done it, he just had to do it."

"He described the voices as taking over his thoughts and his body. They made him do things like cut his hair so he looked more like a gangster.

"Maxwell said in the months before the killing he was playing Grand Theft Auto to the exclusion of anything else.

"He had smoked cannabis the night before, he took a knife from the kitchen and went out to stab someone. After he stabbed Mrs Tulloch he ran home and told his mother what he had done.

"The psychiatric assessment is that he is a great risk to others and will be for many years."

Maxwell lived 500 yards away from Mrs Tulloch on the same housing estate in Kennington, South London. He attacked her within five minutes walk of her home.

The youngster started smoking cannabis and skunk as well as taking cocaine at 14. He had previously been given cautions for possessing cannabis and has two convictions for mugging and assault.

Maxwell said he started hearing voices after smoking the drug and was referred to a psychiatric team by his GP in June last year.

He was prescribed anti-psychotic drugs and his case was reviewed four times. It was due to be considered again the day after he attacked Mrs Tulloch.

Instead, Maxwell went to a police station with his uncle and solicitor and handed himself in. He told officers: "I am given medication for my head and eyes, I don't know why I have been told to take this medication. I have not taken it for two weeks.

"On September 4 I played Grand Theft Auto until late. When I got up I felt a bit unhappy and aggressive. "I went out of the house at about 10am."

"I have a knife with me. I didn't know why I had a knife, I saw a woman, I stabbed her with the knife, I stabbed her three times, there was a lot of blood. After I stabbed the woman I ran home."

Maxwell has since been diagnosed with schizophrenia. Yesterday he was detained indefinitely under the Mental Health Act after pleading guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

Paul Jenkins, chief executive of mental health charity Rethink, said: 'While there can be several triggers for mental illness, we know that if used by people under 18, cannabis doubles the risk of psychosis.

Professor John Henry, a clinical toxicologist, said: "People are beginning to realise that cannabis is not the puff and relax substance that people used to use."

Studies show there is an increased instance of schizophrenia in cannabis users, in some people as much as a ten-Marjorie Wallace, Chief Executive of mental health charity SANE, said: "This has all the hallmarks of similar stories where a paranoid schizophrenic has not taken medication but has used cannabis.

"Cannabis, especially skunk, can act as a trigger to psychotic relapse in which someone may lose touch with reality and become a serious risk to himself and others.

"We expect the inquiry into this case will reveal the same faultlines underlying many of the 55 homicides involving mental illness each year."

Mrs Tulloch, a receptionist, was married to Prince, 42, and had two adult daughters, Claudia and Andrea, from a previous marriage and a threeyearold granddaughter called Tianna.

Her sister Carol Smith said: "Someone has to take responsibility, how can he commit a crime like that and no one is responsible?

"There need to be regular check-ups for people like him."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ok, so the kid smokes some bud while playing GTA, then goes to sleep. The NEXT day wakes up, hears some voices and goes out to kill someone.

How can this possibly be blamed on bud? He's a schizophrenic! This article is nothing but blatant anti-drug propaganda, pure and simple.

OMG this is freakin stupid!

2007-03-25T20:19:00.000-07:00

It's old news, but I just read this a few minutes ago...

KATU News

- By Susan Harding

PORTLAND, Ore - Most adults can remember the carefree days of childhood, climbing trees and jumping from swings, often on schoolyard playgrounds.

Climbing, swinging and sliding was once a rite of passage during recess, a time for adventure, to see how high, how far and how fast we could go as a kid.

Today, kids find themselves grounded, victims of a culture of fear and injury litigation.

A growing number of school districts are going so far as to ban the game of tag and are even posting signs that read "no running on the playground."

Is there real danger on the modern playground?

Safety advocates say yes and want to eliminate it.

Their first target: swing sets.

They've convinced Portland Public Schools to remove all swings from elementary schools playgrounds.

But even a playground inspector finds the removal of swing sets a little over the top.

He says that swinging creates motion and is an important part of childhood development.

But the safety advocates don't stop there.

Portland Public Schools have also rejected merry go rounds, tube slides, track rides, arch climbers, and teeter totters.

At Grant Park in Northeast Portland, some parents embrace a new plastic enclosed play area, noting that the construction of the play equipment does not have sharp corners, and soft surfaces are used in many areas.

As for the disappearing swings at school playgrounds, some parents say the kids won't miss them, while others decry the move as overprotective.

And it's not just Portland that is seeing playground equipment disappear.

Our lawsuit happy culture has schools and parks installing low-to-the-ground play structures that some have derided as "dumbed down."

Now, it seems, anything with moving parts is a lawsuit liability, and in some places, that even means moving legs.

In Broward County, Florida, there's a new rule on the playground: no running.

A parent there commented that "no running on the playground, that's kind of like no playing on the playground" and another called for a review of what exactly was "safe" or unsafe.

So what can kids still play?

Not dodge ball or tether ball, that's still too dangerous. And in Beaverton, at Barnes Elementary School, rules there forbid the game of tag.

In Salem, an elementary education director says "we don't encourage the game of tag because it encourages fights."

But at Catlin Gabel, a private school, there's an entirely different philosophy at work on the playground. One where monkey bars, slides and other playground favorites are used daily by a roiling mass of youngsters, some who come away with skinned knees or other minor boo-boos.

Kids there are taking chances, even jumping from swings, and it's all encouraged.

An adult watching the students play says it's really the nature of childhood to take small risks and find out what they can do and what they can't do.

One child psychologist points to the rising trend of childhood obesity in defense of letting kids play like kids.

National statistics indicate 34 percent of kids are overweight, with obesity projected to be nearly 50 percent in the year 2010.

But safety advocates point to different numbers, saying playground accidents cause 200,000 injuries nationwide each year, and 17 deaths.

It's a debate that is sure to continue, as some say kids can never be safe enough, and others feel that if kids can't jump from the swing set and maybe skin a knee, they are not learning valuable life lessons.

Oh, boy! It's been a while!

2007-03-10T08:59:00.000-08:00

I've lacked internet since last September, so now that I have it back, I guess its time to start posting again...

Still in Portland, still loving it. Trying to find a new job in construction right now, waiting on a call from a local remodeler. I really hope that will pan out.

Started working on the '67 Beetle. It's drivable now, just need to get some new plates for it, and fix a tail/brake light.

Blah blah blah...

Geocaching...

2006-09-06T11:50:00.000-07:00

Haven't gone caching in a while, so far I've hit up two caches in Oregon, one had my first Travel Bug find.

Meet Sunny the Rubber Duck TB.

Off-Roading, Swimming, and Hiking...

2006-08-06T20:33:00.000-07:00

That's what I did yesterday. Had some fun with the subaru in the dirt (where it belongs) and took a little swim with Steph (mostly just wading through the water).

Here are a few pics I grabbed:

Wow...

2006-07-18T16:01:00.000-07:00

Just thought this photo was pretty powerful:

Link to the article: ...Israel, Hezbollah trade attacks: MSNBC

Yet Another Blog...

2006-07-13T10:47:00.000-07:00

I started a new blog, with several of my friends. Once I move to Oregon, out of the three of us, we'll have the entire west-coast covered.

Jon: lives in Washington
Jacob (me): will live in Oregon (in the coming months)
Dave: lives in California

Check it out The Mire

The Boys...

2006-07-11T16:24:00.000-07:00

From left to right:

Dane, Ryan, Dave, and Chuck

Taken at a favored hiking spot near Santa Cruz California: Moonrocks

California Slave...

2006-07-02T11:54:00.000-07:00

This is just sick, nobody deserves this kind of treatment, these people should get FAR longer terms than the suggested 3 years!!! The link >>> California Slave

Ooohh, I'm running Ubuntu!!!

2006-06-24T11:07:00.000-07:00

Well, not on my new computer, I decided to make a media box for my home theatre using my old computer. It is now running Ubuntu Linux. I've wanted to do this for a long time, just finally got around to getting a second computer.

Ubuntu

US troops get murder charges in killing civilian | Reuters.com

2006-06-21T10:55:00.000-07:00

US troops get murder charges in killing civilian | Reuters.com

Wow, this is sad, very sad.

Techdirt: Teen Sues MySpace For Not Protecting Her

2006-06-19T17:55:00.000-07:00

Techdirt: Teen Sues MySpace For Not Protecting Her

All I have to say is WOW... This girl is a moron (or should I say slut? (mmmkay that was a little harsh)) for meeting a guy that she KNEW was way older than she. This girls mom is a moron for not watching what her child does on the internet. The lawyer representing these women should be shot.

I am ashamed to be part of the human race, lawsuits like these are going to get the government to take all of our freedoms away and they would be justified, obviously we cannot think for ourselves!