Daily Loaf

Routes Music is a documentary film acting as a roving music census, taking in the true musical passions (and disgusts) of the American people. We’re traveling all across the country, stopping along the way to interview local bands, take footage of live performances and chat with anyone and everyone. Learn more about the documentary here; check out all previous entries here.

The first thing we noticed on Austin’s infamous Sixth Street was the preponderance of clubs. Not the live music that Austin is known for, but booming bass beckoning babes in short skirts (and the dudes chasing them). Roads blocked off … police bored and leering … drunk college kids swaying from one sidewalk to another … a street musician, here or there, drowned out by the latest pop hits.

To find some music that wasn’t prerecorded, the Routes Music crew had to drive across town to locally-owned and operated Violins Etc., a full service string shop.

Inside, we were greeted by hundreds of violins – some brand new and ready for sale, others in various states of disrepair – as well as the employees who fixed them.
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Yes, we here in Tampa Bay may live in a highly populated metropolitan area with a huge carbon footprint, but you can now rest a little easier when I tell you that we didn’t make the list of The 15 Most Toxic Places to Live (courtesy of The Mother Nature Network). This doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t try to live greener lifestyles – let’s just start taking notes now and learning from some of the locations on the Toxic 15 list on what not to do and why we should be more conscious of the environment.

Some of the cities that did make The 15 Most Toxic Places to Live were Chernobyl, Ukraine (I’ll let you guess why); the Citarum River in Indonesia – the most polluted river in the world; Linfen, China – the city with the most air pollution (laundry turns black when hung out to dry); the Yamuna River that flows through Delhi, India – used for waste disposal, drinking and bathing; and Lake Karachay, Russia – named the most polluted area in the world by the Worldwatch institute on nuclear waste because, thanks to the nuclear dumping by the Soviet Union, one hour of exposure at this spot will guarantee you a lethal dose of radiation.

Video after the break.
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What’s the buzz on the latest issues in the Green Community? Check out what you may have missed this last week:

Fixing sprawl and redesigning suburbia- Grant Rimbey CNU explores a possible strategy towards improving existing sprawl. Fixing the sprawl that we have, along with sprawl demolition and recycling, are strategies that could be employed in the future as a new green industry.

Nation’s largest solar facility to be in DeSoto County by next year- Florida Power and Light is currently building the nation’s largest photovoltaic plant in DeSoto County, a $173.5 million, 25 megawatt solar generating facility.

Fresh: New Thinking About What We’re Eating screening – What’s wrong with the mega-industrial food industry- Struggling small farms, problems with food safety rules and the mega-industrial food industry, and a film about all of the above.
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Scattered about me are books and magazines. On one the poster child of the climate change movement, the polar bear swimming in icy clear water. Audubon chose the title Sink or Swim: Another Assault on the Arctic and How You Can Help Stop It. In all honesty, I think it’s too late. We are currently witnessing the fifth or is it the sixth mass extinction since life first emerged from the slime or rocks or whatever that latest scientific findings happens to suggest. But remember when compared to our life spans this extinction will take an insanely long time. So the urgency just doesn’t seem to be there, because if it did, then we would all be in the streets marching on Washington, D.C. and the United Nations demanding that something be done yesterday.

Another magazine, the April/May 2009 issue of Free Inquiry, has a time bomb on its cover. The number on the clock 6,790,064,816. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, as of August 16, 2009, at my time of 10:15 a.m., the human population is 6,845,146,634.  In 1960, it was 3 billion. By 2044, 9 billion. That’s a 6 billion jump in less than 100 years. For me, this is the number one problem plaguing Homo sapiens. There are just too many of us, which leads to greater and greater demands on water and food, both quite finite. And the energy demand will only increase GHGs if viable alternatives are not found – think China and India. If human population growth does not slow down, we will not have the resources to feed everyone. I have to smile when I think about the town hall meetings and the misinformation being propagated with end-of-life issues and death squads. If we don’t stop breeding who knows. Sounds like a great story for a movie, though. Oh wait! It’s already been done - Soylent Green.
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What’s the buzz on the latest issues in the Green Community? Check out what you may have missed this past week:

Cool-N-Save: An eco-friendly energy saver for your air conditioning unit (Video): Jennifer Meier writes about how the Cool-n-SaveTM system affixes to the top of most home air conditioning units, resulting in a substantial drop in ambient temperature of up to 30 degrees Fahrenheit. The Cool-N-Save(TM) system has also been rated by the US Department of Energy and EPA as an Energy Star Partner.

Signs of hope: are our environmental efforts making a difference?: Linda Taylor shows us an example of how environmental efforts can make a difference, even if they take years to come to fruition.
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The trash mix up of what was thought to have been debris from the missing Air France plane last week, but was just a garbage patch in the Atlantic Ocean, has brought more even attention to the world’s oceanic trash dumps. The largest one is called The Great Pacific Garbage Patch and is made up of about 3.5 tons of trash that floats around and sits on the ocean floor in layers. Ocean currents create a circulating effect and pull debris in the water from North America, Hawaii, and Asia, and have created this huge area of refuse.

This huge patch extends from the coast of California to China and is bigger than our continent, spreading over millions of square miles. 80% of the garbage is plastics that have not biodegraded. According to this article from the Mother Nature Network, “Unlike most other trash, plastic isn’t biodegradable – i.e., the microbes that break down other substances don’t recognize plastic as food, leaving it to float there forever. Sunlight does eventually “photodegrade” the bonds in plastic polymers, reducing it to smaller and smaller pieces, but that just makes matters worse. The plastic still never goes away; it just becomes microscopic and may be eaten by tiny marine organisms, entering the food chain.”

The video below, from a segment on Good Morning America, gives more information. They interviewed Capt. Charles Moore of the Algalita Marine Research Foundation, who has been studying the trash in this area for over 12 years. When the reporter compares it to a “trash soup”, Moore replied, “It’s like a minestrone that’s out there, and all the little vegetables are different colored plastics.” His samples taken from those waters have shown that the trash quantities have more than doubled in the past 5 years, and that many fish and sea creatures are being affected by this as well.

Efforts have been made to clean it up by the Ocean Conservancy, but what needs to be done is preventing more trash from piling up out there. When we can take responsibility and start changing our ways, then we can start making a difference.

the Meridians, photo healingfabrics.com

An acupuncture study conducted in Seattle, released this month by the Archives of Internal Medicine, that substituted acupuncture needles with toothpicks to stimulate the meridian points, has acupuncture physicians and other Natural Health practitioners scratching their heads. The study used pointed toothpicks to stimulate the body’s meridian or acupuncture points and the results in pain relief were nearly identical to the cases where acupuncture needles were used.

“This study missed the point, ” said Acupuncture Physician Dr. Christy Giallourakis of  the Center for Oriental Medicine in Tarpon Springs, Florida. ”The problem with Western studies of traditional Chinese medicine is that the person conducting the study has to use experts on the placement of the meridian stimulus so that any results will be accurate.  There are 26 meridians but there are many, many, extraordinary points and these points can be inadvertently stimulated by someone who does not understand the system.”  What is used to stimulate the points has little effect on the outcome of the stimulation. “If you put any kind of stimulation to the point you will have a reaction.”

Acupuncture is based on the energy meridians of the body: these meridians are pathways of subtle energy that connect and compliment every organ and function in the body. Along these pathways is an interconnected system of subtle energy that can interrupt pain or enhance sensation depending upon the combinations of stimulated points. The interruption of pain is an important factor in healing. Read the rest of this entry »

Looks like W.J. L’amour had a little too much fun this weekend. Sex Bites: better late than never.

No sex (park) in China: This week officials in Chongqing, China ordered the destruction of Love Land, a sex themed park. The park planned to have models of genitals and sex techniques, naked human sculptures and an exhibition on the history of sex. Park manager Lu Xiaoqing said the park would serve as a learning tool, saying “Sex is a taboo subject in China, but people really need to have more access to information about it.” Bummer. Hope no one out there bought their plane tickets to China yet.

Kenyan man says lack of sex gives him a backache: Following the week-long sex ban in Kenya, a man sues women activist groups, claiming the sex ban affected his marriage and led to a string of ailments, including stress, backaches and lack of sleep.

Bristol Palin words of wisdom: Bristol Palin tells People magazine “If girls realized the consequences of sex, nobody would be having sex,” Read the rest of this entry »

Taylor went to China and all she brought back was this lousy podcast! We dissect her culinary travels, and discuss Brian’s review of Ocean Prime.

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I recently adopted a tiny rescued dog named Nena. She is a Shih Tzu toy. I renamed her Miss Nena because of her elegant ways (except when it comes to food. Then she turns into a 4.5 lb. gang-banger on speed.

Not being a dog person (so sorry all you dog addicts) I took her on a trial basis. I did well resisting but, like all adorable and dependent little things who prey upon our best natures,  her gooey, needy, pit trapped me. After all, she is adorable, little, and needs me. Right?

Once I accepted my fate I researched Shih Tzus and learned they were royal little doggies with an impressive history of being companion dogs in the Imperial Palace. Cultural myth depicted Buddha descending from heaven on the back of a Shih Tzu. Hmm, I better be a good doggie owner.

So here is my dream: Read the rest of this entry »

CL Wine Editor and Corkscrew columnist Taylor Eason is in the middle of a two week tour through China. Not surprisingly, her focus is on the food and drink between the sightseeing trips. Here’s her Twitter and Facebook comments about her first few days in the Middle Kingdom:

4:27 PM, Apr 20th: Breakfast in Beijing: scrambled eggs sauteed with woodear mushrooms in sesame oil, steamed bok choy and pork stuffed bao. And lots of tea.

2:49 AM, Apr 21st: Lunch: 8 dishes. Lotus root with mushrooms, pork dumplings, sauteed pea shoots, sauteed celery with a foreign white veggie.

More photos and briefs after the break: Read the rest of this entry »

This seems like a no brainer but it is still interesting. If nothing else it proves why making-out all night at a bar may not be a complete waste of time.

BEIJING, Feb. 16 (Xinhuanet) — Scientists who are starting to understand the biochemistry of kisses say that saliva increases sex drive.

Those in the kissing-science field of philematology are finding links between kissing and the hormones that affect coupling, researchers said at the annual meeting of the American

Association for the Advancement of Science as quoted by media Monday.

And these hormones are one of the keys to our reproductive success, so there’s a link to evolution and passing on our genes to the next generation. Read the rest of this entry »

Some of the craziest video I’ve seen in a while. These guys can really fly. Sorry, but the flying-guys video is apparently gone. In its place, here’s this … other random, flying-related video.

• Illinois House committee could decide soon on whether or not to impeach Blago.

Click below for much more news!

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Bill Maher is worried that an Obama administration isn’t going to be very funny. After seeing this video of Obama roasting his now Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel back in 2005, I think we might see a few laughs ahead.

• Rahm Emanuel outlines the early ambitions of the Obama administration.
• In the fight against al-Qaeda, no international border shall be respected.
• China gets into the stimulus plan action.
• California churchgoers greeted by Prop 8 protesters on Sunday.
• What happened at the Seminole Hard Rock stays at the Seminole Hard Rock.
• MGM adds American Gladiators (among other things) to YouTube.
• The Titans remain the NFL’s lone unbeaten team.
• #1 at the box office: Madagascar 2.

Ever wish you had a daily crib sheet of miscellanea that would surely enable you to achieve impressive levels of pretense while out at the bar with friends?

No?

Well, here it is anyway:

Word of the day: eldritch (adjective) — strange; eerie; unearthly; weird; spooky.  That’s an eldritch motherfucker, right there.

Quote of the day: “Happiness makes up in height for what it lacks in length.” — Robert Frost

Historical event of the day: The Wuchang uprising sparks the Chinese Revolution of 1911, leading to the fall of the Qing Dynasty and the establishment of the Republic of China.

Happy Birthday to: Thelonius Monk (1917), Ed Wood (1924), David Lee Roth (1954), Brett Favre (1969), Mario Lopez (1973) and Dale Junior (1974).

Will America ever learn? George W. Bush addressed the nation last night, proclaiming “our entire economy is in danger.” That means two things. 1. There is no crisis. 2. Bend over, American taxpayer.

• Bush invites both candidates to the White House for a chat about the economy.
• A theft bailout deal is close.
• Hey McCain, this isn’t about you.
• McCain’s talking points revealed.
• Judging by his YouTube comments on The Mole, Anthrax “suspect” Bruce Ivins must be guilty!
• China turns off the spigot.
• Paul McCartney plays the holy land.
• The Rays magic number: 1.