When you decide to get serious about recycling...
I was impressed with this stand in the center of Figueres, Spain. The current government in Catalonia is quite environmentally friendly and to a large degree makes any "Green" party in the US look pathetic. On the Rambla of Figueres (think of it as something like Main Street in the US) there are these recycling stands. Everything on this list with its cute little slot is something I pretty much have no choice but to throw away in the US. They're a bit hard to read, but from left to right, they are: CD/DVDs, printer cartridges, batteries, mobile phones, corks, low wattage light bulbs, and standard light bulbs. I especially like the slots for mobile phones and wine bottle corks. Someone in city government paid attention to the two highest consumables in Spain and figured out a way to properly recycle/dispose of them. Oh, in case you're wondering, by the neighborhood dumpsters, there are already containers for glass, aluminum, plastic, paper, and whole bunch of other, large items.
30 07 2009 0 comments
Tags: better buying, catalonia, figueres, spain, the europe
All seat and no screen make for a dull ride
Below was the scene that greeted me when sitting down in my totally awesome middle seat in San Francisco last week. The back of that seat was to mock me for an additional 10 hours after this. It's amazing how spoiled you get with having your own screen in the seatback to watch and choose your movies at will. I mean, it's rare that there is more than one or two movies that I really want to watch, but having the option to watch a series of crappy movies to pass the time is greatly appreciated. To add serious injury to insult, the screens in the aisles were super high, hard to see and gave wicked neck cramps to watch. That and the only thing sorta worthwhile to watch was Duplicity which I'm sure was much better in text, which makes sense given that Tony Gilroy (the director and writer) started out as a writer. Quite frankly that is where he should stay. I also enjoyed watching Coco avant Chanel and learning that the only thing more painful than English period dramas, are French period dramas.
The lesson to be learned in all of this is to plan accordingly and always fly with a laptop filled with oodles of video. Also, don't fly on code shared flights for Delta by Air France. AF loves to toss their crappy rides at the American routes, although we did ask for it what with the Freedom Fry thing and all.
29 07 2009 0 comments
Tags: media, travel
Charles de Gaulle Airport, your passport control is killing me!
Charles de Gaulle as an airport is glorious. The structure is well-designed. It's classy, airy, and nicely modern. It gives you all the sense of world travel that one would expect from a very proper international airport. The fact they have newspapers from around the world doesn't hurt either. Sure, connections between terminals can be onerous due to the distance, but as I finally found out this time around, there is actually a shuttle to take you between them, although at times it seems hard to find.
The one single, bastard thing that hoses everything good about CDG is the passport control. It's a disaster. Take a look below if you'd like to see the line from my last trip two days ago. There are three, count 'em, three windows to check passports for every single person traveling through CDG internationally. W. T. F.?!! Naturally, the lines are hell and while waiting is often part of life, when you have an extremely tight connection, which is often the case, you will actually miss it simply due to the airport's ability to get your passport stamped. This has happened to me before and while the opportunity to buy French cheese while waiting three hours for the next flight has its merits, this is just dumb.
The airport blames the government and the government blames the airport. In the end, it's the passenger who gets screwed. There's not really much way around it other than to not fly through CDG, but that's pretty damned hard given that the routes through there go just about everywhere in the world. About the only suggestion I give people is to try and guess which of the two lines is the one being served by the two windows as opposed to the one. Also, ignore the EU Citizens and All Others signs. Both lines are for everyone, although the supposed EU one might be faster at times due to them basically not paying attention to most people in that line, while scrutinizing most everyone in the other line. Oh yeah, if you're not white, be prepared for no end of crap as the control agents are quite racist. Lastly, try and avoid having a connection flight between 7-9 in the morning as that's when it seems every flight in Europe connects at CDG.
25 07 2009 1 comment
Tags: airports, france, paris, travel
Okay, outta here for now
Time to board that big jet plane, strap in, and get ready to stare at the back of someone's head for 10 hours as I make my way to Paris and then connect in to Barcelona. Then get out, probably miss the Catalunya Express up to Figueres, so I wait around Barcelona Sants of Passeig de Gracia for an hour, then take the local train for two hours and get in to my home away from home for the next two weeks. Yeah, I know, I'm going to Spain so shut up about all the travel times. I've just done this trip so many times now that I'm getting myself in to the mood of what lies ahead. I really only have a few more of these West Coast intercontinental flights in me though, as they're damned rough on the body.
Of course, one small detour on this will be going to Ghana two weeks from Friday where I'll stay for a week and a half, tracing Obama's footsteps, although more importantly, attending the Maker Faire Africa. That should be a fun trip and my first solo trip to Africa. How am I affording all this given our extremely depressed economy? Simple: plastic. These trips aren't nearly so much for tourism as they are more for function. Spain is to attend a wedding and Ghana is, like I said, to go to Maker Faire, but also to promote Maneno, which by the way, I'll probably mostly be covering on my other blog, Subsaharska. Don't worry, I'll write here as time allows, but I'm hoping that this trip will be much more about Africa with its incredibly tasty West African food in Ghana and much less about me complaining as to why all the British stag parties have to pop their collars when in Barcelonar. What is up with that by the way?
22 07 2009 0 comments
Tags: the europe, travel
Classic meets classic ringing the death of US music
The trends in popular music these days revolve solely around remixes in the US. There is no new music that rises to form a front of the new aesthetic unless you count the faux punk rehash that is coming out of the hipster set. I find nothing new nor enjoyable in what they produce. It is meant to be loud, brash and ironic with little shown in musical craft.
For me, popular music pretty much heaved its last breath in the US in the early 1990s. The wave of grunge that came about was shaped a great deal by previous waves before and grunge acknowledged them and built upon them, bringing something new to the mix. It wasn't a remix, but apparently, now it is.
This mashup of Nirvana's "Teen spirit" and Rick Astley's "Never gonna give you up" is nothing short of genius. Who knew that the two songs would meld so well? Unfortunately this is also telling to the state of music in not just the US, but also Europe to a great deal. The best things coming out are those that have already been done.
What's the alternative? I'll tell you that it is not within our borders. We have to look internationally to where musicians still work their asses off to get know. Africa. There are a great many musicians coming out of the continent, specifically Nneka whose song Heartbeat is just fantastic. She's Nigerian and before you think that this is going to be some drum circle crap that your dreadlocked, cannabis-smoking neighbor would be blasting, let me tell you that it ain't. It's damned honest music that anyone who still has taste in the craft of notes and words should listen to.
20 07 2009 0 comments
Tags: in to africa, music, us america
Sad times for higher education
I just read today that it is quite possible that fees for the California State University system will go up to $4,872 a year. This hurts because when I was a student at UC Berkeley it was around $4,200 a year to go there. Now it's $8,720. This puts a college education out of the reach of great swaths of people as this is just tuition. Books, food, and most importantly, rent, are not included in this cost. Where did we go wrong?
I pretty much blame it on the fact that far too many of us are getting degrees these days. Take me for instance. Why did I go to a top-rated school in the US to get a degree in English Literature and then work as a web developer? I'm not alone. Everyone I meet works in a field that was not their area of study in college. Personally, I didn't need this degree. All it does for me is to put a line on my resume that says, "Yes, college graduate." This is pointless because nearly everyone is has this line these days. But yet, we all still keep going to college.
Now we're at a point where the system is pretty much broke and trying to balance it on the backs of students who in turn go in to debt for tens of thousands of dollars to get a degree that most don't use. We really need proper college exams here that make it a great deal tougher to get in to college. I guess to some degree the restrictions are indeed being put upon us, but not in a scholarly fashion, just a monetary. Long live the modern corporation approach to education.
18 07 2009 1 comment
Tags: california, education
A little prav, a little fix
I'm always slowly adding to my praving gallery when I get the chance. It's well known by anyone who reads my blog regularly and doesn't make up the 90% of my traffic that are just stealing images, I love the prav. Things like this recent sunshade are a precious testament to half-assed fixes of mankind.
Naturally, once #1 Fan pointed me to There, I Fixed It, I nearly pissed myself. My collection seems paltry when matched to the brilliance of that site. If nothing else, it's there to remind us that pravs took us to the moon and help with roasting hotdogs.
14 07 2009 0 comments
Tags: praving
Misworded Mondays: Give something back
Definition: Many. Typically it is reference to actions that are in accordance with being selfless and benefiting society.
Usage: "After 25 years working as the Director of Marketing, I felt it was time to give something back."
Reality: Much like social justice, to "give something back" in the American context is a phrase that sounds good, but is essentially an outgrowth of our Christian guilt complex wherein people feel that they must pay a penance for any number of things that they've done in life whether good or bad. While there is nothing inherently wrong with this, it usually comes about that people feel "helping" others somehow makes up for any misdeeds in their life. It is also the case that what they "give back" has little merit. A prime example is from those in marketing who have no actual discernible skills. Upon burning out in their field or just losing their job, they attempt to lend their "skills" to various entities aimed at benefiting some kind of social cause. The end results are rarely beneficial.
To "give something back" is not a one time portion of ones life. It's an extremely interesting thing to note that the people who believe this usually drive cars where not necessary, own multiple electronic devices, don't recycle, live in a free-standing home in the suburbs, consume massively, and do any manner of other ills that are a detriment to the world society at large. Those who want to be taken seriously need to initially take in to account two things: how can my skills truly help others and how can I work to "use less shit"? Especially focusing on the later will benefit a great many more people than coming up with a marketing outreach plan for a small NGO.
13 07 2009 0 comments
Tags: charity, hubris, misworded mondays
Wow, Oroville in a good light
The Chron has featured my home town on a "Sunday Drive" listing. While there is no way that I'd recommend making that trip in a single day, it's a good drive and the wilderness is quite nice up there. Growing up around all of this, you do get spoiled. I realize now why a friend from back East said, "I hate you Californians". It is true, when it comes to easy to reach, great wilderness parks, we kick a rather large amount of ass.
06 07 2009 1 comment
Tags: california, cars, oroville
The 74X Culture Bus: A one way ticket to fail
Touristic creations like the Barcelona Bus Turistic are dreamy. They're a public bus line aimed at serving the needs of the tourist so that they don't crowd the other public lines that people commute on, the tourists pay properly for transportation that they don't pay taxes to support, and most importantly, they stop tourists from driving all over the city. It's a genius system and I was constantly pounding my fist on my desk about the fact we don't have this in San Francisco.
Well, it turns out that I bruised up my fist over nothing because apparently, we do have a touristic bus, the SF Culture Bus or otherwise known at the 74X. You can read all about it on their FAQ and while it may read a great deal like Chuck Norris Facts, you can get the general idea.
Reading through all of that, I quickly realized that this bus is screwed. First off, the route that it covers is quite well served by the 7 or the N Judah. These lines are a mere $4 (oh yeah, celebrate the 33% fare raise today. yay...) round trip as opposed to the $7 for the 74X. The bus runs every 60 minutes which is a joke. Also, it doesn't take credit cards, Translink or even give change, so you better have a five and two ones to pay for it on board.
Also, this route is not a popular route. Museums are fine and I like them, but the typical tourist doesn't give a rat's ass about these things. They want that "curvy street", "bridge", "pointed building", and the "Italian place". There is no touristic bus to these areas, but there are a great deal of taxis and other private operators who work to service these areas like all the taxis at Coit Tower waiting to prey of taking people to Fisherman's Wharf which is about a 10 minute walk--downhill. Can't step on their toes, can we now? I mean, just even stretching the 28 to go to Fisherman's Wharf instead of having it fart out at Fort Mason would be an improvement, but no, we get the 74X and that's it.
It reeks of people going to City Hall, showing how touristic routes would be a great idea, Mayor Prettyboy going along with it, but making sure not to touch the private operators, establishing this route in this way thus dooming it to failure as shown by the buses always being empty despite plenty of tourists being in town right now. This way, after they shut it down, they can point to it and say, "See, we had a touristic bus and it failed, so why you wanna go down that road again? Now, on to handing out more taxi medallions..."
01 07 2009 0 comments
Tags: culture, san francisco, tourism
