rats!

A massive yearlong rat infestation in Bangladesh and neighboring parts of Myanmar and India has ravaged crops and threatens to trigger outbreaks of bubonic plague, according to the U.N. Development Program.

The rat plague was brought on during early 2008 by the first flowering of the region’s bamboo forests in 50 years.

Rodents have since multiplied at an alarming rate because they have been able to breed eight times per year after eating the bamboo blossoms, compared to only four times annually during normal conditions.

Steven Belmain, a rodent ecologist from Britain's University of Greenwich currently in Bangladesh studying the infestation, said the rodent population has been doubling every three weeks.

Many residents say they have been bitten by the rats, which have invaded homes, eating stored food supplies and gnawing on people as they slept.

http://earthweek.com/

rockin' the monocle

It's coming!

Tiger Woods 10 on Wii is featuring a disc golf mode. I guess you can pretend to be Tiger hucking the plastic down the green (I wonder if Tiger Woods even frolfs?) This is the first commercial attempt at exposing the world to digital disc golf and it will be quite interesting to see how it is received. The controls and responsiveness are supposed to mimic the real throwing motion in an uncanny sort of way. I wonder if playing digital disc golf will help or hurt real disc golfers?

I owe the rangers and city greed mongerers big time! Several months ago the city decided to repave the lot at Dela and then of course charge for parking. They even installed a gate to keep people out of the lot at night. Another way for the city to make a quick buck and assert their authority upon the simpletons.

I bike to Dela so none of this effects me. What has been happening though is the guy from the neighboring ball golf course who is responsible for unlocking the gate is quite unpredictable as to when he chooses to perform this duty. Sometimes he's there at 7AM or even later and is greeted to a line up of 6 or so cars waiting to get in. People have become savy though and have stopped coming before 7AM.

Well I bike in at 6AM and play the course for a full hour by myself before anyone gets there. Effectively, one of the top ten courses in the world is literally my private course for an hour each week! What I hesitate to tell my buddies is that the delinquent guy from the ball golf course has actually been showing up early again. The gate is already open when I get there these days.

I don't think they need to know that though.

As for my game, I've really leveled out in my skills without much recent progress. Been shooting reliable bogey golf for the most part: I bogey 50-60% of the time, par maybe 25%, the rest are birds, doubles and the occasional triple or worse. Alarmingly, I'm quite at peace with this skill set. Guess I don't get out to the course frequently enough to work through my kinks in an effective way. My mechanics are at issue and that's tough to correct.

I live for that occasional shot of greatness that keeps me coming back each week...it happens!

....i forgot

to wish us a happy earth day. We need to do a much better job at slowing the apocalypse if us humans (and other animals) stand a chance. Adopt eco-friendly behaviors quickly!! This guy is still crying for all of us.

intoxicating hijinx abound

This could all possibly go in the 'keeping it weird' files but I don't know.

I was traveling home from the gym on the east side yesterday and made it to the train trestle (a la Lost Boys fame and fortune.) At the top of the hill I noticed commotion on the trestle and also in the water. A guy was fishing his friend out of the San Lorenzo! Made it down to the foot bridge, right over the emerging scene, and the guy being fished out is clearly in trauma...he fell off the bridge. At the riverbank two boardwalk police were waiting for the man to pull his buddy ashore (it seems they probably could have helped but they surely would have got their boots wet.)

As I listened I gathered that the guy, Dave, was indeed wasted on at least a 12 pack and did indeed fall from the train tracks (he didn't jump.) Dave was unconscious but I could hear him breathing. He had significant head injuries and abrasions everywhere. I stayed for several minutes until the paramedics and police arrived. As I left the whole surreal scene I pondered the whole fragility of life.

Didn't hear a word about it on the news last night so the first thing I did when I got to work was check the papers (online.) It was difficult to find but I came across a short paragraph that basically stated that they didn't know much about what had happened but the guy was airlifted out shortly after I had left.

The comments on the article were more revealing. Apparently this is the third drunk guy who has fallen off the trestle this calendar year. One reader went as far to say that the trestle is a, "black hole for drunks. The city needs to setup a DUI checkpoint at both sides."

Maybe I suppose.

So I post a picture of a chihuahua with a toupee in relation to this story because it was much easier to find news about the 19 year old drunken idiot who threw a Chihuahua named Lola down a 75ft. ravine this weekend on the other side of town. The story is everywhere and the masses want to throw this guy down the ravine too.

I realize most americans like their dogs much more than they like other people and the way these bizarre incidents were reported support my theory. Dogs rule and people are just drunken idiots! I say a prayer of hope for 'Dave' anyway.

I made them pay

The Bad News Beers faced off against the Coyotes yesterday in a sweltering 95 degree matchup at Michael Gray Field. We lost 14-6 but I belted an inside the park home run. It came right after I fouled one off. Apparently the foul had just rolled out of bounds and the pitcher, third baseman, and catcher were right there waiting for it to trickle out. Had they fielded it I would have had a single. I get back to the plate and crushed that shit. Should have been a double but I let my hustle and their fielding mistakes do all the talking. HA!

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

How about a garden droid? Those freakin' genius children at MIT have created one that can be built for $3,000. They "network" with the plants and are programmed to feed, pollinate and harvest. As I drove through Watsonville yesterday I couldn't help but wonder what this means for all of us but especially the migrant laborers who toil and sweat like no robot can even imagine.

two words

inflatable kayak! Taking my time and researching based upon safety and then cost. I think I want one bad though and I want to try and make it happen this summer. Got this beautiful, federally protected marine sanctuary in my backyard and no apparatus to adequately explore it. It's time to explore it!

Let's not talk about sharks anymore.

i like gold!

A dirty dozen of us took to the 'mountain of gold' over the weekend and whooped it up! I found my way back to island time and it sure was nice to celebrate with great peeps...I just wish we had remembered the peeps.

What a flippin' paradise!!

Eating Shit Meditation