You Shouldn't Do That

...no, you shouldn't, but you did.

Digging through a box of CD's this afternoon, I came across some music that doesn't make it onto my regular playlists.

What a nice find, and a reminder to slow down and enjoy the ride.

Hawkwind; You Shouldn't Do That; Album - In Search Of Space (1971)

Winter Respite

The last few days in Seattle have brought us cold, but beautiful weather here in Seattle. That coupled with vacation days, made for a great opportunity to get out and enjoy some scenery.

Here are a few shots that can hardly bring the true feeling of this stretch of these rare, dry, crisp winter days here in the Pacific Northwest. It's days like these that get you through until summer.

Chop, chop!

When the family is together we cook. And, what better time to capture the movement and action of hurried hands working away in the kitchen.

Here's to a bit of togetherness, good food and good cheer!

Bank of (Un)America

In a recent stand against activities that are "inconsistent with internal policies for processing payments" Bank of America is refusing to handle payments for WikiLeaks.

Well, I'm glad to see that such a highly regarded corporate entity can proudly stand above the crowd and propose it's high standards of integrity. And if you'd like to know anymore about any the great Bank of America moral code, all you have to do is do a web search.

And what do we see?!

This was first to come up:

• Bank of America Agrees to Pay $137.3 Million in Restitution to Federal and State Agencies as a Condition of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Corporate Leniency Program (US Dept of Justice)
  

"Bank of America was the first and only entity to come forward and report its wrongdoing to the Department of Justice before the department opened its investigation into anticompetitive conduct in the municipal bond derivatives industry. The department’s ongoing investigation has resulted in charges against seven executives and one corporate entity and guilty pleas by eight executives for antitrust and related federal crimes. The investigation remains active and ongoing."

Other instances of Bank of America's high standards can be found over at Bad Attitudes, where they cite the bank's participation in such activities as accepting illicit funds from drug traffickers; doing business with a global arms dealer; and ongoing investigations into home mortgage chicanery.

Here's to double standards

It's funny that our US Imperial power-mongers can destroy countries in the name of democracy on a whim, but when the shoe is on the other foot, or when the foot gets placed in the mouth, messages we send get a little crossed.

In following the WikiLeaks saga and the tracking bits of information streaming out on independent news sources I came upon this on the Voice of America web site: US Diplomat: China Displays 'No Morals' in Africa

Basically, the takeaway is "A diplomatic cable leaked by WikiLeaks quotes a senior U.S. official as saying China is acting aggressively and "without morals" in Africa."

"In the cable, Carson describes China as a "very aggressive and pernicious economic competitor." He adds that Beijing has "no morals" and "is not in Africa for altruistic reasons."

So, I guess it is OK for the US to wield destructive power in the name of economic superiority or chance of setting up its corporations with opportunities to make cheaper widgets and prolonging our cultural affluenza, but when someone else does it they are "without morals"? Because we are all convinced that the attack and occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan is for "altruistic reasons", right..?

A little late for Halloween...

It's a month late for spookiness, but I felt an eerie chill when I read this earlier:

Obama Meets With Wal-Mart's Duke to Discuss Economy

I can only imagine the conversation....

"Hey, why don't we outsource the role of government to China - yeah, that would save us some money?!"

Or, what about this one: "Thank you Mr. Obama for letting us corporations continue to have our way. You ought to get an Oscar for all that 'Hope' act you put on back in 2008 - you're a keeper! You ever thought of becoming an Exec down in Bentonville when we throw you out in 2012? You know what, we'll even give you the corner office, where you can proudly display your token Nobel Prize jingamajiggy!"

Man, I'm so glad that we're calling on the top capitalistic brass for ideas on fixing the disastrous mess they've created. With any luck, despite lots of us not having jobs, we'll bail out this sinking ship and keep this whole economy afloat by buying cheap, unnecessary, toxic trinkets and imported food from god knows where. Now there's a plan for economic recovery!

Here's to surprises!

I'm seldom surprised anymore. So, today when I racked over a batch of IPA into a secondary fermenter and discovered the moderate aroma and flavor of spice I was a bit surprised. I am obsessive about cleanliness and sanitation in my brewing and cider making, but today I was reminded sanitation doesn't take care of residual aromatics and flavor compounds left over from previous batches. What was to be a hoppy India Pale Ale may now be my first inadvertent attempt at a Christmas Ale, due to carry-over spice flavor in my plastic fermenter from my last cider. It will be a few more weeks before I know for sure how nicely the infused phantom spice either complements or dominates my IPA, and I am somewhat hopeful the Amarillo and Chinook dry-hop addition will bring my end product back to this side of spicy. But, if it doesn't, the spice just might serve as a nice winter warmer that will be ready to drink just about the time Christmas rolls around!

Cheers to the holidays!