Brown Motion

(since 10 things might be copyrighted by Letterman or some such) Eleven things that are a live giveaway (not sure what a dead giveaway is) when - 1. A State Government is fixated on legalizing the ban on foie gras and has the time and money along with legislative resources devoted to such bird liver issues 2. Creating new laws every other week to allow and disallow people to choose their partners of whatever sex (natural or unnatural) for however short a duration of their liking and causing undue waste of government resource 3. Chasing people (with ammunition and all sorts of federally funded vehicles) who choose their favorite herb (and agriculture) in the form of its intoxicating qualities rather than growing mundane crop like Artichokes (have you tasted one of these bland creations?) 4. People throng to buy only their third idevice in as many years with no guarantee they can make their next rent payment 5. People continue to imbibe alcoholic beverages at 12 times the price of...

Ever since the OJ saga almost 2 decades ago - refer to my very first blog reminiscing this event - there has not been reality television to put the oomph in the viewership. So these days we have to deal with a series of very wealthy people being arrested for everything from rape (of any sex) to doping or overdosing with chemical cocktails to molestation to financial fraud to dog fighting (I beleive there were few incidents of non human species being molested according to the prosecution). But merely getting arrested or implicated, or whatever the PC term for alleged but not convicted is these days, the plaintiff has to also have certain key traits to make the drama last a full season. 1. Ability to plead NOT GUILTY using many variants of 'Depends on What IT Is'. 2. Ensure that when raping an individual their ability to describe events in English is limited causing undue stress on the judicial system and blaming everything on an interpretation issue. 3. Ensure that there i...

I remember growing up in ancient India (an India before cell phones invaded common sense and no one knew what a slumdog millionaire was) the recycling center came to your doorstep. There was a guy that with a peculiar tone yelled out 'Dabba Batliwale' waking those denizens who might have hit snooze on their mechanical alarm clock too many times. His mission was to collect all manners of old metal and glass ware from the apartments in Mumbai (then also known simply as Bombay) and take them to a recycling station (we hope) for a quick profit. This ritual was our way of making some pocket money. We recycled my father's old beer bottles (the beer was fresh when consumed but the bottles were old and likely already recycled..who knows but I digress) along with other oil containers etc. Now the point of all this is that very soon we are going to be faced with new pieces of glass the way the planet is going and there are not enough methods in the market to collect the old stuf...

No this is not a news story on inappropriate behavior in a religious institution. Rather about mass marketing. I wonder why people are so taken by reading about others' habits - mostly about so called successful people. Harvard, Linkedin and certain (authors) others gain a lot of publicity by continuosly publishing these apparent behavioral traits. What exactly are the outcomes of these articles? Are people then actually emulating these in their work life and coming ahead? I have strongly suspected that since the circumstance to every person's immediate circle of influence is unique. These so called success stories tend to be also one of those lucky accidents that propels someone into being a stand out. Malcolm Gladwell has tried to approach this subject scientifically and shares his ideas in a book called the Tipping Point. It shows how a series of events leads to a perceived big event but that there is always a underlying theme to who will pop and who will not. Equal...

As I while away my grey matter on seriosuly retarded thoughts here is a new one that I felt compelled to pen. There is 'dramatic' similarity between the current Euro Zone crisis and the plot for any of the constant drivel laden Hindi family drama type movies. A constant tug of war between the dying father and the errant chote bhaiya who squanders the purkho ki wealth on trivial pursuits including wine and women. Then meets his arch rival in the form of bade bhaiyaa who wants to put an end to this out of control spending. Asks for permission from his father to teach this mongrel a lesson but meets resistance since after all its their own khoon aka blood. His desire to drain the blood out of this worthless slob further fades since there are no working blood banks to reinstate the dude after his lesson has been taught. Big Bro partners with the villian (ironically called Prem - Prem Chopra) to hatch a scheme to kidnap this brother but Prem has other ideas of his own, which i...

I suppose having a lot of money can be a good problem to have. For example you get to sit around or under a tree (that is of your liking and you own) on your very own beach of your very own Island sipping your very own brand of pineapple juice made on your own farm served by a local who you also (essentially) own. Whilst sipping said beverage you get to contemplate of the other islands of the planet that you currently do not own and could or would like to own. This rambling merely highlights the news recently that the Oracle chief had gone ahead and just bought one of the six Hawaiian islands. Lends credence to my earlier proposal where Messrs. Gates and Buffett should just go ahead and pick up Africa and Australia and with money left over go for any one else willing to sell out their good for nothing countries. Then these Messrs could decide how to best put the piece of earth into overdrive and make everyone else rich so we could go exploring into space for other pieces of real es...

As far as propounding new ideas to save the planet here is a new one. Growing up we have all had our share of toys. It was a way to experience the unknown or pretend to be something you could only dream of. Whether it was playing house with little appliances or flying to far away lands in a pretend lego space ship. But what if we stopped making toys? As I think that not having gadgets and toys might actually make the planet a better place. Toy mania is born out of the parents desire to distance themselves from leaking, nagging and disruptive children. So stick that ipad in front of them and problem solved. Kids used to find something to do if their creativity was truly given free reign - I too remember hanging from trees and pretending to fly only to find out that I had landed at the bottom of the guava tree with a nail in my shin. So well - take it out - get a tetanus shot and we are back in business this time chasing dragon flies so I could tie a thread on its tail. Cost - ...

Every four years like the leap year the summer Olympics make an appearance. Countries vie to host this epic event since there is a perceived economic boost to the host nation. Their is also a chance that the squabbling government officials in the competing countries would approve budgets to redo their crumbling buildings on a massive scale. The other competition is of course on the field. To medal. Every country believes it can achieve certain success in certain events ranging from the mundane 100 meter dash to archery to the synchronized swim. But wait - there is more titillating events happening just before the actual kick off or torch lighting or whatever they do these days to signal the start. 1. Scalping - Now this is a sport worth watching. There are scores of people who try to attend last minute and will pay ridiculous amounts of their monetary equivalents to get in. The seller is making good on a basic economic principle - scarcity drives prices up. Scalping is the o...

Anyone saying he does not have time on hand is lying. I have not seen an anklet watch, have you? Google CEO has lost his voice ... this is his quiet way of saying he does not like SIRI, the new voice assistant that Apple introduced in its iphone; As soon as the internet was born there were online sites selling shoes; There are more sites selling shoes online than there are toes on the human feet; There are no sites selling shoes in Sub Saharan Africa where shoes are most needed; BTW what exactly is Sub Saharan Africa? Is it a collection of suburbs? Is there a subway that goes there from Jakarta? Or is it some made up term from an overpaid IMF official or Harvard graduate? Why is there no Sub Nullarboran Australia (For those with intimate knowledge of our continents this would be a good tease)? GM has now recalled all the cars its made for a variety of reasons. Hence global warming suddenly dropped. Make that all car companies have recalled everything they have made - that ...

I am not sure if there is any connection with these two things but I just realized some oddly interesting facts - The largest beverage maker is run by a man of Muslim faith - Muhtar Kent with a Turkish heritage is COKE CEO while the second largest company Pepsi is run by a Hindu -Indra Nooyi who is of Indian heritage. Both run soda companies that make products which appeal to global tastes but both companies are American. Changes like that are happening in many big American corporations with the appointment of another Indian born chief to head the operations of Citigroup worldwide. Mastercard too happens to be run by a Sikh of Indian origin. Then there is talk of the venerable institution called Berkshire Hathaway which might find a new leader who happens to be a Jain from India. One of his cousins it appears already runs a large German bank. I think what this trend underlines is that hard work and a bunch of lucky accidents do pay off big regardless of religion, faith, alignmen...

With the media reports about a certain country's former leader being so was the subject of much debate since no body actually knew. To me this really stinks since it was the BBC who jumped in on ambiguous information. Usually they would be very specific and clear about matters pertaining to the state of a being. Dead or alive as it were. Now enter clinically dead. What the heck is that? Is that sort of a predead state? In which case I too would qualify. You see that is what any human would be before they died? It it not? Its sort of like precooked. Not yet cooked but somewhat cooked - just microwave and its done. Who or how does one qualify for this interesting state of affairs? What rights does a clinically dead person have? Which clinic is it that deems someone clinically dead? Is there consensus amongst clinics around the world to define this term? More important is how long does one have before going from being clinically dead to just plain DEAD? Can someone ...

So we got to go see the taping of one of those 'music talent scouting shows' taping in the bay area. People actually came to audition from far away although this event was supposedly attracting local talent to come and get a spot on the show. This show is somewhat popular on some TV station and is called the 'X Factor' where an unknown quantity is identified in the form of a new talent. The whole experience is more about people coming to watch Britney Spears in person (along with some other judges) who, herself is also a new talent in the form of one of four judges to rate the characters trying to make it on national television (and also win a grand prize and recording contract). This taping was for four hours with bathroom breaks thrown in. It ended up being mostly a ridiculous noise fest with a bunch of millenials hooting and yelling and listening to mediocre folks wanting to get their next 'Call Me Maybe' effort recognized. Maybe at best this was a 1 ...

It used to be said that there were these sadhus or ascetics with special powers that made them float over what ever they wanted to or put their mind to. These dudes were written about in ancient texts and tales told by grammies. Now here comes a guy from Florida who just pulled a stunt to one up the sadhus. He walked with a pole on a rope over the Niagara Falls from the US to Canada This person has depicted many qualities - 1. Intense focus the likes of which you can see in a monk 2. Entreprenuerial zest to get a large publicity hungry American media giant to fork out over a $1M for the stunt that gets him more noteriety 3. Political skills to negotiate a bilateral agreement between US and Canada allowing him to perform such a feat 4. Dedication to his art Truly if you set your mind to it you can pull out a rabbit out of a Red Bull (soda I mean)! Kudos to this artist.

What would have been silly talk or way to downplay an event is now becoming popular lexicon in today's dysfunctional world. There is already talk of Grexit for Greece leaving the EU. Then there comes Spain which leads with the Spexit banner. I thought Syria was the hot button for CNN after all the mass killings with or without government action or inaction when suddenly there is a new 'Syriza' in town. The latter happens to be some leftwing nutjob party also out of Greece. Its getting very confusing out there so best fix yourself a lemonade from all the lemons that the collective governments are going to dole out and chill in the shade I say!

I have a thesis that I will propose about the state of college education in the United States. As I get to overhear many a student conversation on trains, social gatherings or from colleagues at work who have kids going to college I am stuck by the disconnect between fact and fiction. The kids that are in college (largely as in the middle of the statistical bell curve) are taking on loans that seem to average $30,000 by the time they get done with 3 to 4 years of college. That they are now looking to earn a wage to payback this loan becomes an immediate daunting task ahead of them when they need to be looking at the world through the opportunity lens without a hurdle just out the gate. American students have always in the past found gainful employment in a field of their choosing regardless of the field. That sure changed over the last 2 decades. Somehow though they have not connected with reality of today's education. They continue to do hourly jobs to fund part of their edu...

Who goes around getting someone's autographs? Obviously a large chunk of humanity. I was at a recent conference where an apparently successful author had just published a book on the hot topic of the day. After the conference there was a mad rush of book buyers to get this person to sign their copy of the book. Now first question - In today's day and age of rampant identity theft do these authors actually pen their signature like they were signing a check? Or do they have a fake signature to give out to the millions of dolts that want this scribble on an otherwise pristine copy? In case of the latter its already a sham since what that person does on someone's copy of the book is equivalent to graffiti as its not the real thing. If it is a real signature then it actually might prove that the book belongs to the signer and not the signee and further screws up the idea of owning a new copy. If the person signing is giving out his signatures willy nilly to any homeles...

The author of Moneyball was asked to give a commencement speech at Princeton recently and he made this very obvious yet surprising remark to the so called IVY league graduates. To paraphrase - Success in most cases is a series of fortunate events that can be chalked up to dumb luck. I do think that once someone gets lucky it requires intellect to recognize it as such and put your whole effort behind it to maitain momentum and indeed savor the flavor of success. The author Michael Lewis is himself a graduate of Princeton and has since had different careers including a bond salesman and now an author of popular books some that have become a movie. He went on to emphasize that those lucky ones then somehow owe it to themselves and to society to return the favor in the form of helping others achieve what they seek, in most cases success itself. Although an intangible idea the message was to pay it forward. He calls it the graduating generations' responsibilty to take the effort t...

I recently cancelled a major chunk of my cable service and only get like 5 stations beamed into the house. Net results - savings of $25 per month - enough to get 2 Indian buffet lunches. Content loss of intellect - zero - perhaps better condition of grey matter due to lack of toxic drivel being bombarded onto it from the erstwhile cancelled channels. Now like a recovering alcoholic I am thinking of cutting the moronic cord entirely. I also got rid of the concept of land telephone line now that I have more cell phones than I can count at my disposal (its a long story). I am working very hard on the concept of telepathically connecting with fellow humans on a need to know basis and will update the readership as the concept matures. If I do not you might smell the stink anyway and try to reach me. What I am discovering more and more is that the media sometimes might be in cahoots with the perps and instigating a story or two so they can send their goofy and lazy cameramen out to ch...

So here is what the world has come to. First that self disclosed profiles need a lock and key to store online..enter the brain child of some guy who figured people will pay to do so ..linkedin. Now when millions of followers joined the cult (yours truly included) and locked their secrets here comes a doofus to hack into the vault and steal people's names and passwords used to store and update their profiles. What are they going to do? Fix the erroneous degrees that lot of American CEOs claim they have? Show who's who to the world so another Fortune 100 company does not hire the wrong dude? This whole thing is hilarious. So much for the free laughs of the day folks ... gotta run!

There are times when males have the ability to hold the future in their hands - in a manner of speaking. Now they are talking about Merkel of Germany holding the world's future in her hands. That is a lot to hold. I mean perhaps the Germans have big hands but the world seems like a stretch. Even the Greek Dimon of JPM fame could not answer what happened to $2 plus Billion on his own watch and we expect the German woman to control what is going to happen to the whole world? I mean who came up with this brilliant thesis? What the heck does Germany have to do with the world anyway? If it all goes to hell in a handbasket (more debate on what this means in some other profound blog) I am not sure the inavailability of BMWs and Mercedes or their spare parts is going to be a primary concern for someone. So no one country truly has the ability to cause any permanent harm is what I am saying. People seem to attach too much emphasis or weight to one particular idea to scare the weak ...

An index of inflation can be many things to many people. To me its the per follicle cost of trimming the related growth. Haircut you see. In certain parts of California it is approaching what might have constituted a minor outpatient surgery bill in the hinterland like St. Louis or Charlotte. This ding to the wallet as you get rid of your unsightly mop from the top is starting to be measurable. Although if you look at it from one angle its good value for money since it allows to dry off the strands quickly, after a shower, saving some very valuable morning minutes. A variety of allied services have cropped up to keep you feeling good about visiting the salon as opposed to eyeing eveything in the front view mirror as an in your face rip off. There is the massage of the neck followed by the rinse and repeat cycle on your skull in some places. These also come with exotic sounding names like the 'Deluxe' or the 'Most Valued Program' MVP get it? I am wondering thoug...

An American think tank called the Pew Charitable Trust recently surveyed young adults and found that less people now believe in God. God damn it. Yes the very idea that has held together so many civilizations through their opinions and bloody skirmishes about the definition of and miracles from. Now this disturbing trend definitely puts a spotlight on the need to find an alternative skirmish worthy topic. C'mon citizens start thinking! Are you certain that there is no God? What has led you to come to this ghastly conclusion? Too many of his children are getting the finger? No food, only war. Financial wealth evaporating? Gas at $4 per gallon? Only nincompoops in congress and other elected governments around the world? C'mon think..that cannot be all bad? The Tsunami after all was only restricted to Japan. Could have been worse folks. Someone is watching. Lets pray that this is not happening. We need an outlet to be the fall back when all blame fails. 'It w...

I am in the market to look at new automobiles since one of the family's trusted 'go to' appliance is going to be medically unfit soon. So as primarily an appliance that gets the job of conveying the occupier this should be a matter of evaluating what is in the market and running a quick check of needs vs. cost and selecting the winner. Lastly ensuring adequate funds to complete the transaction. But wait. It is not quite that simple. First it begins with the most hideous of tasks. That of engaging in non sensical banter with the car dealers. These folk can be entertaining if you go in with the right frame of mind. They start by asking a redundant question as you step in - so what brings you in? I like to think of answers that range from - wanted to barbeque in your showroom to getting my gall bladder removed. Obviously such a response might get you shown the door so we press on. Then comes the - what are you thinking of driving? I can easily offer a response spec...

When I was growing up in India I remember being gifted an odd piece of cloth by an older relative. That oft came with instructions to use it as a input for what would become a shirt or trouser. Thus the onus to convert raw material to finished good was left on the giftee. The giftor merely showed up with a certain rectangle of their choosing in terms of color or fabric and divined that the gifted gleefully accept this gesture of generosity. I found this proces retarded and somehow arbitrary. What if I needed was a good bicycle or a pair of socks instead? The idea of gift cards for generic stores was yet to reach Indian shores. Today one could get a gift card to appear politically correct and hand it to the giftee and let the have free rein on whether to buy tobacco, guns or a shirt with the funds. Of course certin smart elders just handed me cash. I respect that. For one they believed that I knew what cash was and how it could be used. Also it left me to choose the outcome o...

I guess I could have called it changing times but it would not have sounded as sexy. Here are some interesting changes that I can remember (mind you use of words like I can remember are indicative of either - A. Acute or onset of Alzheimer's B. Generation gap or proof of its existence) 1. Poop Entrapment and Disposal in physically challenged - this device in its earliest incarnation involved no device. It was left to the will of the crapee (usually an infant or invalid or geriatric) to conduct this natural phenomenon anytime the need arose and anywhere it arose. Then came the advanced thinking around disease control and hygiene which resulted in cloth strips to contain the exodus. These could be and were recycled until the garment physically failed to perform its function. Then came the dawn of disposable products to aid the super busy families. This involved strapping chemically harmful substances wrapped in a paper like pouch around the belt region of crapee and allowin...

Some examples of what might change the same old boring homicides and drug bust type of news might be - 1. 59 illegal immigrants made their way into Oregon after riding out the Japanese Tsunami debris. They were calmly enjoying their homelessness near the nuclear plants outskirts when this stupid wave had to come and displace their cardboard huts. Never mind since after feeding on the best sashimi (that money could never buy) on the Pacific current they were deposited safely on the Oregon coast after a year. They since made the local redwoods their new home. PS: A stranger walking his dog in the redwoods noticed a glow and called authorities. They discovered these bodies were luminiscent at night which gave them away. 2. Steve Jobs has made another surprise appearance at the Developers Conference to introduce the iCandle. This is a never ending supply of power to juice all the iphones in existence. After introducing the iCandle he extinguished himself and vanished. 3. Gian...

After imbibing several portions of sweet Muscat (to set the record straight I am not referring to the Omani capital but a wine produced by type of grape) I was letting the old noggin wander. And then the frustration set in when new questions without answers arose from the fog. Such poignant ones as - 1. Why have I not seen an Indian woman in a Victoria Secret ad? I mean its one thing to not have a single gold medal winner in the largest organized scam of the Olympics for years even with a billion citizens secured within the borders but to not produce a Secret worthy model? 2. Why have I not seen Cambodian gay men eating at a local In N Out burger? Is it because they will not settle for anything less exotic than crocodile meat? 3. Can I ever again enter a public swimming pool anywhere in the world? This after an official (its okay till it was not official) publication of a survey indicating 20% of poolees are pissing in the pool. This too in the civilized world like the USofA....

Is UNESCO dead? Don't hear much about them anymore. If a famous author gets arrested do the publishers immediately issue a recall and update the bio to reflect - He now lives at Rikers Island Maximum Security Prison with his dog Fondue. If at any point the earth implodes where will all the (airborne) planes land? When is P&G inventing diapers for dogs? I am sick of people behaving badly. Can Bill Gates just walk up to the UN and one day buy Antarctica, Africa and Australia and be done with it? Then he can call it the Gated Compound and it would be easy for dumb kids in school to memorize only 5 continents. In fact if he is feeling really chipper he can partner with Buffett and they can pretty much buy the rest of the continents and a whole lot of bullshit history and geography will go out of school curriculums. The Gates Buffet Empire will rule planet earth and that is that. I am sick and tired of keeping track of different currencies and moronic governments and their...

Continuing the theme of pondering important social issues - this time around skill sets and culture - Are Fijians not interested in foiling terror plots? How come only the US is busy with this activity? Why are Arabs in Oman not working on Cancer or Type 8 diabetes Research? Do they not get cancer or diabetes? Do people in Greenland get a longer spring break? If so how do they celebrate it? What is the cuisine of Gabon called? Why are there no celebrity chefs from Myanmar with restaurants in NY? It seems the Italians have the market cornered. Speaking of which are these so called Italian chefs from Italy or are they known in Italy as chefs much less celebrities? Why has Kenya not launched their own space station? Don't they have a need to stretch out a bit? At least start with an international athletic school or something to train budding Olympic runners - there has to be a market in that? Why are gelatos Italian? Do they import the cows? Who came up with the idea of cal...

Some grave questions that I often ponder on - not that it has anything to do with a burial site. In this flat world it is odd that - Why are there no homeless Indians in America? I have never seen a handsome Korean man, why is that? Why are there no Mongolian CEOs in American companies? Why is sending pictures of someone's genitals on Twitter considered news? Esp the frequency and wide demographic reach within which it seems to happen. I have not seen a white farmhand in the entire 20 years of wandering America. BTW does Estonia have drive-ins? Do they show Chinese movies? What would be a good snack while watching Chinese blockbusters (separate heavy question is whether there are Chinese blockbusters and if so which bloc are we talking - communist?)? Some suggestions for Chinese movie snacks - eels in a tube; popped spiders etc.. Why do Norwegians not run Chinese restaurants? Same goes for Germans operating a gas station..something wrong with equal opportunity I tell y...

To be prescribed to is a birth right of all Americans. It should almost be written in the consitution the way our pharma industry is going. Not to mention their lobbies et al most Americans I would suspect are overdosed on some form of prescription. I am not sure a prescription to what - mostly a state of being drugged I suspect. To wit the nomenclature of these prescribed meds would have Mendeleev turning in his grave. I too never thought that there could be any more complex words in the dictionary than Presodymium. But alas a sign of changing times is the amount of chemical compounds that have now been created, packaged and prescribed that spans the entire gamut of A to Z. So in honor of the prescribees here is what we are consuming these days (outside of the large cars, oversized ketchup bottles et al).. A is for Allegra, Ambient etc...for various allergies, sleep depravation and other mind numbing issues - to me A is for Anathema B is for good old Benadryl ...cure all for ...

One more attempt at finding comedy in the face of targedy and some such from our reliable news media. Their latest offerings included the following - 1. Family of high schooler shot, killed by police demands action - sounds like the latest incarnation of 'The Omen'. 2. The British Monarchy celebrates a diamond jubilee and in the words of the queen's son she was thanked for her self-less service. Remove 'self' and I may start seeing the picture. And while we are at it what the heck is a CommonWealth anyway? Was the original dufus idea of a common currency? Not many of these colonies of the former British occupation are wealthy if that is implied. It was a wonderful party though to watch from the comfort of your home - the only best parts were the hollywood type lights and fireworks. I could not tell who some of the bogus singing crew were and why some ancient dying and one time popular stars were attempting to croak on stage.. I almost thought they would t...

No not talking about embracing the quintessential crap gatherers - not literally at least. I recently came across a news item where an Indian saint was making the rounds of large American cities and her claim to fame seems to be to cure what ails you through a simple hug. Apparently she has divine powers that allow her to perform this magical feat the proof of which is apparent in the thousands of huggies that lined up to get one. If this is not Jesus's latest incarnation I am not sure what is. That she is an Indian and female at that changes the miracle model a bit but nonetheless it is still the idea that a person like you or me can transcend the unknown to provide bliss to those that seek. Apparently the catch here and there seems to be always one is that you have to have the faith. Well speaking as one who has very little of this faith (frankly I think of faith as a non scientific probability theory problem) quotient its very hard to comprehend what is going on. But I su...

Underwear is king. I mean from a purely monetization standpoint. Forget Facebook buy stock in underwear. Literally and literally. I mean buy both - the actual wearable kind and the company's shares. One to keep you cool - looking cool and the other to make money so you can buy actual clothes to wear over your underwear. Although looking at the crowds these days the latter may be optional. In that case the profits from the stock can be spent on more underwear or some other addictions. Everyone is getting in on that act. From famous music and filmi personalities to even tennis stars. Recently I read that some ex communist bloc country's rising female tennis phenom has gone into business to sell eponymous brand of women's racy undergarments. Lesser the material used the more the profits. Literally and imaginatively. Even Seinfeld (one of my heroes) turned down a $100M gig to do another show for NBC it appears - I read between the lines that the undie business whic...

This past memorial day weekend the family enjoyed a round trip of around 600 miles visiting various vistas, both natural and man made in the northern reaches of the state of California. We started going out north east past the country's largest olive growing and processing regions, as yet an unknown to us, and stopped by an Olive processing facility to take it all in. Oil of varying kinds and the fruit itself. It was quite a different treat. While we did not witness the physical processing of this pitted fruit since that only happens for a short period in late fall, we did get a tour of the facility. Later we learned how olive oil like wine making or scotch making also lends itself to the single flavor concotion or a blend. After having smoothed our way out of there we headed to a local abbey that cranks out wine of the dry kind. The abbey itself was cool and ancient looking in the middle of nowhere but the wine too dry for our liking. So onward we went and stopped at our ...

It is hilarious to see how a large department store with JC in its initials is scrambling to find the magic recipe to have shoppers come back and shop its vast cavernous stores. To those that know which mega store I am refering to it is obvious that for starters people don't actually need any motivation to shop. They just do. Given the average American much to their chagrin only has so many hours in a week that they can actually shop has to decide on which pavement they should pound. Could it be inside the store that also has Penney in its name or its equally boring competitors that have equally strange names like Sears or Macys. Selling clothes to make profit to me is moronic. I mean first of all there is not that much to the notion of shopping for clothes. You wear those to protect yourself from the environment and largely be able to conduct your business without getting parental guidance sticker plastered on your butt. But of course the designer industry and the other jo...

The news this week gave us our share of comical stories under the banner of prestigious or sombre announcments. Funniest was the one where the Queen of England will be celebrating her birthday floating down a barge waving to the denizens of her country. I mean this takes the cake in terms of birthday celebrations of people that add no tangible value but suck from the hard working taxpayers. As far as the cake goes I mean it literally given many of these yokels from the English hamlets we are told actually do send her pastries for every occasion. I mean the palace could literally open a soup kitchen and feed all of London's homeless but no we can't do that - security and all. Instead this time she and her hubby and some other losers are going to put on their Sunday best and go waving down the Thames on a barge with cake in hand. Of all the silliness before the Olympics come to town the Brit sure are working at it. Then comes news that the junior bushes (I mean with the ca...