Brown Motion

2020. Welcome to the newest year.  Since hindsight had the unique distinction of being 2020 it stands to reason that people will be very judicious this year and exhibit foresight that equals hindsight. No more oh no decisions. Everyone will make money in stocks.  Or no one will lose any. No accidents. No drunk driving. No stupidity. No dumb facebook posts. No weirdo pictures. No insider trading. No outsider groping. Eh? But if they get drunk while still in 2019 will they all wake up with a hangover in 2020?  Does the put a kibosh on the 2020 plans?  Only in hindsight can we tell.

Vexing. Unlike Sell by Dates on egg cartons and milk, do we have a guideline for when something that is labeled new is not new anymore? You could buy a fancy purse from a fancy store for the price of a small sedan and wander off hoity toity.   Get oodles of ahh and likes from Insta and FB. And then at some point that new purse becomes old. When does this transition occur?  Is there a date like the equinox or the solstice? It is even more perturbing when it comes to man made stuff that is completely fanciful. Like Happy New Year. What?  That is so completely vague that I do not know where to begin.  It is one of the top all time meaningless comments in my book.  I am guilty of wishing people back when they do me.  All the times I do it I am very unsettled because I know not what it means. Saying things without knowing its meaning has become a norm in society. Does the year become old at some point?  In which case were your wishes a limited time offer?  If so how limited

This thanksgiving I was surprised to see that the local grocery store was offering freshest turkey money can buy. Sidewalk to table in five minutes. Can't beat that.. Also the sign on the inbound door refers to - Conveniently Delivered... looks like they mean it. Unless these two guys were stopping by for some Starbucks peppermint mocha?

Businesses throw a holiday bash for their employees come Christmas time.  It is tradition that exists in corporations of all size across America.  Time to tell your peeps that they deserve to stretch out and have booze on the company's dime.  This once. So it was with my employer that hosted its annual event in a contemporary art museum in the city. The rains were upon us so it was a mist covered evening as I stepped out of the BART (our local transit with a meager 40 miles of operable track) to make my way to the festivities. Not sure if any arriving attendees (many from work) were high strung that night but some of the hosts assigned to drink duty were.  Literally.  The audience was greeted with two acrobats in mid air wrapped in silk scarves dangling from the ceiling.  And they had champagne bottles in their hand whereupon they attempted to pour some of it out to passerbys below. It was a spectacle.  Not being a fan of the bubbly myself I strode on up the stairs

How much a Stanford grad made for selling a brand called Insta to a Harvard dropout. 5 round trips to our Sun in miles. 13% of humans alive on this planet. Population of India  Population of China 3 times the population of America Half of America's land mass in acres Net worth of a 22 year old woman milking people's vanity vulnerability using brands like Insta and Ulta.

Traveling outside of east bay in San Francisco you can be in farm country in no time.  But Sikh farming communities?  Yes indeed. The San Joaquin valley, a stretch of around 150 miles between Sacramento to the north and Fresno down south is prime farming country.  Largely almonds, grape vines to yield raisins, and olive is grown here. Due to historic migrations over the last few decades the Sikh faith from India by way of Canada as well as direct migration came and settled here. The climate is similar to their native Punjab (region where the Sikhs predominantly live in India) and they took to what they know best - farming.  Since then they have moved up in the supply chain by growing, harvesting, transporting and cooking the foods they produce.  Sikhs in America own among other businesses trucking companies, truck stops, restaurants and of course acres of farms. As a result the land is filled with everything from Gurudwaras (temple for their faith), to eating establishments that