3

T1

Eagle Harbor, Bainbridge WA

Moonlight

Is it real or fantasy?

As we gear up for our fantasy football league's draft day, one wonders how much time is wasted on an activity that isn't even real. The answer depends on who you ask.

"According to a very rough, non-scientific, non-verifiable estimate, . . . the cost to the nation’s employers in terms of wages paid to unproductive workers could approach $6.5 billion." - outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.

Replicon, a provider of time-tracking software, points to the same non-verifiable report and estimates wasted productivity at $18.7 billion.

I'm not even participating in the draft and I find myself wasting time on it. (C'mon, everyone is doing it.) Fantasy football elevates wasted time and money to a whole new level. According Wikipedia:

On fantasy lawyers and "things":

"Fantasy leagues may also engage services to make their things run smoothly and settle disputes. Leagues may deposit collected fees with fantasy football specific escrow companies, and settle disputes regarding trades or scoring by using lawyer-run fantasy football arbitration websites for a flat fee per resolution."

On rooting habits:

"The explosive popularity of fantasy sports, coupled with the availability of venues showcasing numerous live football games via satellite, has had significant effects on football viewing and rooting habits among participants."

On spending habits:

". . . fantasy football team managers are also more likely to spend on other industries. When compared to non-fantasy sports fans, team managers are significantly more likely to purchase alcohol, airline tickets, and sports magazines. They are also more likely to purchase fast food and soft drinks."

Even if I don't participate in this year's draft, I may find myself hiring a fantasy lawyer, rooting in a totally new way, and eating a lot of chips. Without a doubt, however, I will be avoiding work (which is never a waste of time).

Can't Give Them Away

Watching the game at Drifters, Kingston

... and coloring. 

The Cost of a Recall

According to a report published by the Grocery Manufacturers Association entitled, Capturing Recall Costs: Measuring and Recovering the Losses:

In August 2010, more than 500 million shell eggs distributed by an egg producer had to be recalled. According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), from May 1 to October 15, 2010, approximately 2,500 illnesses associated with the eggs were reported, making it the largest recorded Salmonella Enteritis outbreak reported since the FDA’s outbreak surveillance began in the early 1970s. Total costs to American shell-egg producers have yet to be calculated. However, the negative media attention produced a drop in prices that cost the shell-egg industry over $100 million in September 2010 alone.

In 2007, the estimated cost of the peanut butter recall to one company due to Salmonella contamination was $78 million.5 The estimated cost to American peanut-containing product producers from the 2009 incident contamination of peanut butter by Salmonella was $1 billion.

How much will the peach recall cost? It's already old news. Not much has been said about it in the last month so we will likely never know how much the recall will cost Wawona, its suppliers, myriad retailers, and all their insurers. The CDC still does not list the peach recall as a listeria outbreak.

Anyway, it'll cost a bushel.

T

47.917418, -122.691660

On our way

Perfect

Fresh Washington Peaches are Here!

This announcement came to me yesterday via e-mail from Anthony's Restaurants. According to their website, "Peaches from the Northwest, especially Washington, are considered by many experts to be among the finest in the world." And, now, apparently, you can get them at Anthony's.

I bet Anthony's got them cheap.

I don't know where Wawona Packing Company gets its peaches but that company just issued a nationwide recall of  peaches as well as nectarines, plums, and pluots. Besides the peaches, Whole Foods Market has also recalled products made with peaches such as cakes, tarts, salsas, and prepared salads. No doubt, other food companies will need to do the same.

While listeria can be found in soil, regardless of where the peaches came from, this contamination was sourced at the packing company. According to the packing company's press release, the recall was initiated based on internal company testing. According to Cleveland.com, however, the internal company testing was a result of an Australian importer that found three peaches positive for listeria.

Listeria, by the way, was named for Joseph Lister, the same person for whom Listerine mouthwash was named.

The Centers for Disease Control estimates that approximately 260 deaths result from listeriosis occur every year.. The most serious outbreak of listeria resulted from contaminated cantaloupes from Jensen Farms in Colorado which resulted in 33 deaths in 2011. The CDC called it "the deadliest foodborne disease outbreak in the United States in nearly 90 years." There is a listeria outbreak listed for every year since then.

As of July 22nd, Wawona Packing Company was unaware of any illnesses related to the peach recall. Indeed, no listeria outbreak is listed with the CDC relating to contaminated peaches. However, I am familiar with someone who was tested for it just last week so maybe the CDC is still gathering information. He ate three peaches over three days before becoming violently ill. If infected, his health care provider is required to report it and a case report would been filed.

The case report is is 15 pages long, 12 of which are devoted to collecting a patient's food history. Interestingly, peaches are not listed. The list consists mostly of meats; cheeses; ready-to-eat salads (including hummus); precooked, smoked, or cured fish; and dairy products. The only fruits specifically listed are honeydew melon, cantaloupe, and watermelon. No vegetables are listed, although vegetables are listed elsewhere as a possible source of listeria.

Anthony's peaches might be fine but I would recommend their fish.

Diamonds Are Forever

. . . is a myth, apparently. Actually, diamonds are forever but, more importantly, they are a myth.

This all started when I wanted to know why, in movies or on TV, women wear their engagement rings inside their wedding rings when in real life they are worn the other way around. Has anyone else noticed this? Does anyone know why this is done?

I didn't find anything in my internet search that answered this question - which also makes me think I imagined seeing such a thing in the first place - but I did find this Yahoo internet query:

Why do women in the movies wear plain wedding bands?

Responses included:

• "It's a prop," 
• "Because the diamonds shine too much in the filming lights," and 
• "In movies, the wedding band is used to communicate someone is married, and the most obvious symbol of a marriage is the plain gold wedding band." Also,
• "If a character is the type to obviously go for an intricate wedding band fashioned with many stones, and it adds to the character development, it will be made so, but, otherwise, the plain band does the job."

So, if a simple wedding band is the easiest way to communicate a character is married, my speculation is that when two rings are worn, the actor wears the wedding ring on the outside for the same reason: simple communication. It's easier to see that the character is married. Otherwise, the rings may appear as "bling."

Meanwhile, I came across "Act surprised: Your wedding ring is a terrible investment" (from a website entitled Get Rich Slowly) which contains a link to Diamonds are Bullshit. The upshot is diamonds are not the investment jewelers would like you to think they are and the whole diamond market is, in fact, a great big - and very successful - advertising campaign.

We've all been duped.

Which brings me to my next unanswered question: What if everyone who owns diamonds sold them tomorrow on the open market? The success of the diamond marketing campaign would all but guarantee that would never happen. But if it did, could enough diamonds be sold to crash the diamond market? Could an actual market value be established for diamonds? (Okay, that was several unanswered questions.)

My advice to the newly engaged: Buy a used ring. That's as close to the market value as you'll ever get. Or skip the bling ring entirely. Marriage isn't about the ring anyway although many may think otherwise (or ascribe other meaning to it, chiefly relating to financial success). You could invest that money much more wisely elsewhere. (Heck, the stock market would a safer place.) For those of you who have been made to believe there is romance in a sparkly proposal (I was one - twice), you will learn that romance will come in far simpler gestures over the years.

You don't really need any rings at all but if you find you just need something to get the message across, take this cue from the movies: Just wear a plain gold band.

So Much Coffee, So Little Time

I'm going to the Arts Fair today. There will be over 300 exhibits and probably as many coffee shops. There are three Starbucks alone just on the perimeter of the fair - two on Eighth Street and one on Bellevue Way. There are two more, south, on Bellevue Way just blocks away. I need to stop by one of them to stock up on coffee. (20% off this weekend.)

I don't know how many other coffee shops there are in the area that makes up the Arts Fair. I'll try to count them and will let you know.

Meanwhile, I've brought my own cup.

Get 'Em While They're Young

Creative Coding for Kids

" We're helping kids define their relationship with technology, at a young age. "

What, We're Not Good Enough?

If you've been breathing lately, you may have noticed a certain amount of a hullabaloo concerning an upcoming film called Fifty Shades of Grey (haha - I almost wrote Filthy Shades of Grey). A good deal of the book takes place in Seattle, however filming was done in Vancouver, B.C., no doubt due to favorable government subsidies.

Washington State University Vancouver

"Byran Hall" by Iidxplus - Own work.
Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0
via Wikimedia Commons.

Part of the story takes place in Vancouver - the other one, in Washington (the other one, on the west coast) - at Washington State University Vancouver. The movie, however, will feature the University of British Columbia (which, coincidentally, is located at Point Grey).

University of British Columbia
"Irving K. Barber Library" by CjayD -

http://www.flickr.com/photos/85424459@N08/7835821172.

Licensed under CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons. 

The Fairmont Hotel will be used in the movie instead of Portland's Heathman in the book.

The Fairmont Hotel
"Hotel vanc 2007" by Ken Walker kgw@lunar.ca - Own work.
Licensed under CC BY 2.5 via Wikimedia Commons.

The Heathman Hotel"Heathman Hotel Portland" by Ulmanor (talk) en.wikipedia
Self-made Transferred from en.wikipedia; transfer was stated to be made by User:Werewombat.. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

I probably won't see it regardless of where the movie was shot. It won't be good - in my preconceived opinion. (That won't keep it from making a ton of money, though.)

Oh, well. We're used to being overlooked here in Vancouver (the other one), Washington (the other one).

[Added 7/28/14]

I forgot to mention that some of the story takes place in Meydenbauer Bay. (Not in the bay, itself, but on a waterfront estate adjacent thereto.) This happens to be a place where I spend a considerable amount of time.

I have no idea where they shot the scenes in place of this locale. Probably in some other place called Bellevue.

Life in the Dessert

Ron's Log

Life in the desert.

Why We Need A Walmart

This is gonna bring everybody over to the pro-Walmart side: their ice cream sandwiches never melt. Never! Think of what a great relief that would be to the kids (and adults) of hot, hot Desert Hot Springs. (Didn't that 114° bring a smile to your face?!)

What I visualize is, after the Walmart has been approved, built and opened, we the residents of DHS celebrate summer by using Great Value Ice Cream Sandwiches to build a scale replica of the Washington Monument in the parking lot of the Walmart. Leave it for days. I think this would be good to do starting about July 1, so we could then blow it up with fireworks on July 4 (or 5 or whatever).

Where Am I, Again?

Let's just say you commute 150 miles to work and then you get a long weekend off. What do you do? Drive more, of course!

We had the opportunity to spend five nights - in succession - in one location.  On top of that, it was the place that we generally call "home." A rarity. As it turns out, we stayed there all five nights but still added close to 600 miles to the odometer. "It's good to be home" doesn't mean what it used to, apparently.

After driving from the southern border of Washington, and stopping for a night's rest at "home," I went on to the norther border to spend some time with my grandson. I brought him back for the weekend and we took one day to go to Remlinger Farms which, among other things, features an amusement park for the smaller set. Thankfully, we didn't have to take him home again - a parent came to fetch him - before we returned to the southern part of the state.

This amounted to about 10 hours in the car, or thereabouts.

It's good to be back at work where I can get some rest.

The Earth Project: Flying High

The Earth Project: Flying High (Video - roughly 3.5 minutes.)

" Google and a team of engineers are building the wind turbine of the future. The turbine, which operates much like a kite, is essentially a carbon fiber wing that flies 700 feet above a traditional turbine and generates about 50 percent more power. It’s tethered by a cable that transmits the energy to the ground. By flying higher, the turbine reaches a stronger and more reliable wind source that allows it to operate more efficiently than turbines on the ground. " 

Meanwhile, Dead Air: End of Tax Credit Deflates Wind Power

" The tax credit, originally enacted in 1992, in its most recent form gave turbine owners 2.3 cents for every kilowatt-hour of power their windmills produced and applied also to wind power construction. It sounds small, but the credit added up. It not only eased the intense upfront costs of constructing high-tech turbines, but also often made the difference when wind was compared to competitors in the solar, coal, and oil and gas sectors – all of which still receive tax breaks and other incentives. Oil, gas and coal, for example, received more than $21 billion in state and federal subsidies last year, according to a new report by Oil Change International, an environmental advocacy group.

" 'It should go,' Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., himself a leading defender of coal subsidies, said of the credit last month at a policy dinner hosted by The Hill, a Capitol Hill newspaper. 'Hell, your mother only carried you nine months.' "

You can leave my mother out of it.