Over the last few days I have had a wonderful time walking around the
city of Seattle. I stayed up on 5th Ave near the Seattle Center and
took the Monorail into the city at night. The weather was beautiful
every evening, and unlike my last visits, no rain. I look forward to
returning soon.

What also appeals to me about Seattle, is the progressive feeling I get from being in the city.  After a salad lunch at the client's office, I asked if there was a recycle bin for my salad tray to which I got the response, "This is Seattle, we recycle everything."  :)

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The weather in San Francisco was absolutely beautiful this evening.
The sky was crisp and clear and the breeze was pleasant. After a very
tasty dinner I browsed the shops in the Ferry Building and walked up
and down The Embarcadero, taking in the view.

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Upon the recommendation of a client, I stopped for dinner at "The
Slanted Table", in The Ferry Building. The cuisine was Asian Fusion
(I think) and quite tasty. Always in the mood to try something
different I ordered the hodo soy beanery yuba (glass noodles,
parsnips, and pioppni mushrooms) with a side of massa organics' brown
rice. The Duvel Belgium Ale did not really compliment the dish, but
was enjoyable. The view of the Bay Bridge from here is breathtaking.

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Enjoying an absolutely beautiful evening and dinner at El Torito while watching the planes land at SFO.   I am also pleasantly surprised by the restaurant's "Cadillac Magarita".  Made with 1800 Reposado tequila, it comes with a side shot of Grand Marnier.  Did I mention I like tequila?

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I never tire of the views from the sky, and still feel like a kid with my nose pressed against the glass, exhilerated by each passing vista.

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Just making time for the important things in life. Had a nice time in
downtown Cbus with Lina, dining and walking around North High Street.
Yep, even though the temp was over 90, I kept the suit and tie.

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The store was crowded and busy and I was quite surprised they had any of the iPads in stock no less the specific model I was looking for. 

After purchasing and opening the device they activated it in the store and I was on my way, leaving the packaging behind.  I will not be taking this thing back.

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We demand cheap oil, and plenty of it.  We scoff at smaller efficient cars and alternative modes of transportation.  We design cities to cater mostly to automobile traffic.  We barely acknowledge that oil is not an infinite resource thereby borrowing energy ahead from future generations to satisfy our unsustainable planning.

Political posturing by elected officials and grandiose financial promises from corporations only temporarily address the immediate problem.  We continue to design our way of life around oil even though oil is getting increasingly more difficult to mine, causing a dangerous combination: increased demand and increased environmental risk.  As long as we are purchasing oil at this rate, companies will strive to provide it.

The human efforts being organized to remedy this tragedy are remarkable and demonstrate that we as a human community can respond quickly, and with efficiency.  However, if this does not change our attitude to the continued heavy reliance on diminishing fossil fuels, then we are only addressing the short-term issue.  We are acting defensively, not offensively.  

We must begin to plan for the future.  A future in which fossil fuels are used sparingly and only at a rate at which the earth produces them.  It will require our moderation in the use of natural resources, reserving some for the next thousand generations of humans.

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The thought that leads to no action is not thought - it is dreaming

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In the USA Today article "3 climate change reports: Set prices on carbon emissions" by Dan Vergano, a summary is given of the recent report by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences that suggests the United States government should impose a "price" on carbon emissions in an effort to curtail the rate of release of carbon into the atmosphere by industry.  While the article itself is short and lacking much analysis, what really stands out are the comments.  As in most areas of politics there are usually two sides.  In the world of Climate Change there are those that accept it and those that deny it.  A brief survey of the comments show the following*:

*48 comments included in graph, did not include troll-like comments

Evaluating comments on Internet convos can be inexact but it can help indicate a trend.  It certainly seems in vogue to be quick to reject entire branches of science to embrace ignorance and stand against change.  But what is more disturbing, is that extremely deep areas of scientific study and discourse are immediately dismissed in favor of conspiracy theory and pseudo-intellectualism.  A quick review of some of the more virulent "deniers" exhibits this quite clearly:

commonsenz: "What is really driving this is its another way for the government to collect more taxes."

c007: "To think that man can control the earths' temperature is flat out insane. "

brody: "It is he height of arrogance to suggest that we stop a natural planetary process. "

dhwj: "This so-called science is no more than bottled BS."

daveNaustin: "I'm to the point where I don't give a rat's @ss. This rock will be around, no matter what man does to it. Whether or not it's habitable is irrelevant (yes, fuqqing irrelevant). Just let me live out my remaining days in peace & quiet, and stay out of my fuqqing business."

Beyond many of the commenters appeals to subjectivity ("... bottled BS") and irrationality ("...what is really driving this is...") there seems to be a strong undercurrent of selfishness ("...I don't give a rat's @ss").  Is this really the time to only consider ourselves? Thousands of generations of humans before us overcame tremendous hardship to survive.

The climate crisis (i.e. global warming, climate change) is more than just the study of the gradual increase in global temperate.  It is an effort to sustain humanity in the face of exponential population growth and finite natural resources.  It is the recognition of our impact on our surroundings and a call to action to preserve our species and this planet for millennia.  It requires the ability to consider not just our own immediate quality of life, but also the quality of life for the generations to follow.  

As for the report itself, even though the science is generally accepted and based on sound experiment, the science community should not mire itself in the pit of political policy recommendation, but rather stick to giving unbiased detailed analysis of observations and evidence.

Source Article:
3 climate change reports: Set prices on carbon emissions  
By Dan Vergano   , USA TODAY

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WITTGENSTEIN
Tell me, why do people always say that it was natural for men to assume that the sun went around the earth rather than the earth was rotating?

FRIEND
Well, obviously, because it just looks as if the sun is going around the earth.

WITTGENSTEIN
Well, what would it look like if it had looked as if the earth were rotating?

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Today I discovered the Kuerig Coffee Brewer and the gourmet flavor "Dark Magic Extra Bold".  As the name implies, it is dark and robust.  This coffee system is really incredible.  There is a vast variety of flavors available for very reasonable prices and it is brewed instantly.  If the K-Cups were recyclable I would buy one for sure.

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This is one of my favorite scenes. Charles, Emma and Reverend Innes are picnicking and pondering nature...

CHARLES
Actually I was remembering how the tropical seas teemed with living particles that seemed to surround the Beagle with a luminous glow and leave a glistening pathway through the night.

Puzzling. So much beauty for so little purpose

REVEREND INNES
So little purpose! They were helping to light the ship’s way.

EMMA
Well said, exactly.

CHARLES
John, are you familiar with the works of Thomas Malthus?

REVEREND INNES
He married his first cousin didn’t he?

EMMA
So did I.

REVEREND INNES
Yes, but I wasn’t suggesting that…

CHARLES
Course you weren’t. Anyway Thomas Malthus calculated that if… well, if every trout, say, had a hundred or so offspring and so on and so forth throughout the generations, we’d be knee deep in trout in just a few decades. How would you respond to that?

REVEREND INNES
I’d  respond to that by saying that most of the eggs are destroyed or eaten so that the numbers remain stable. That’s the beauty of God’s plan.

CHARLES
It doesn’t strike you as an exceedingly wasteful plan, these myriad lives created only to be immediately extinguished?

REVEREND INNES
Providing food for others.

EMMA
Cheese and cucumber?

CHARLES
Thousands John. Thousands die so that only a few may live. Is not the general sum total of happiness in some sort of massive deficit?

REVEREND INNES
Charles, it is really not my duty to speculate on the mind of God but it does seem to me that nature is at peace.

JOSEPH HOOKER
* sighs * There is another view: that all of nature is a battlefield. Remind me where I read that.

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