Save Wild Utah!

Supporting and participating in efforts to save the wild lands of Utah has been a pet project of mine for almost a decade now. Utah is one of the most uniquely beautiful, natural places in the world - in my opinion. I've only been to about 33% of the world's countries, but that's still my opinion.

At any rate, for several years now, the Bush Administration has been working to open public lands to private oil and gas leases and drilling. The problem? Some of these lands are archaeologically and geographically sensitive. Most are inaccessible and would require road-building, not to mention the destruction enacted during the actual drilling or even exploration process. The other big problem: many of these locations are within or adjacent to public lands, such as Arches, Canyonlands, and Bryce Canyon National Parks. Others are within BLM public lands -land set aside to remain natural and available to the people, to hold off - if even for a while - the destructive human impact. Keeping these places wild is essential to the American anathema, in reverse. These places are incredible in their geology, history, and their raw beauty - as though a gift from the earth to mankind. (I should say, one of many, but that's a long tangent.)

There are few places in this country where an avid outdooorsperson can enjoy so much - hiking, climbing, rafting, kayaking, mountain climbing, skiing, camping, and best of all - discovery. There is nothing like walking 6 days through various Canyonland trails and stumbling unexpectedly upon a pre-basketweaver civilization ruin, a petroglyph, or a series of pictographs guarding over your path. There are few places, perhaps Alaska is one, in this country in which one is able to go so far off the beaten path that you can see one of the most clear night skies in the country. With the ability to count numerous shooting stars on a clear camping night.

There are no other places like it in the world. These places, which have been set aside by other legislation as a means of protection, should continue being protected as the natural jewels that they are.

And it is an op-ed article by Robert Redford that I noticed this morning which has prompted me to write this post. You can read Robert Redford's op-ed piece here. Support SUWA here.

Full Disclosure: I work for an oil and gas company. That doesn't mean I can't also be a naturalist and support environmental responsibility and ecological preservation. I don't mind being called a tree-hugger at work!

3 Little Pigs

Well, the consumer market has finally moved the Big 3 to face the music. Too bad it's a decade too late. I remember a conversation in New York with two friends, about this time 10 years ago, in which we were discussing how the auto industry - or for that matter, the energy industry - would move toward adopting alternative energy strategies. These people, including myself, were in the oil industry. The ideas went along these lines:

• Consumers need to drive change, but until they're forced to do so with high fuel prices, they're too complacent.
  
• The auto industry could take clues from Europe and Asia regarding fuel economy, and take a leadership position on higher mileage.
• The auto industry could also drive change by supporting or more proactively developing alternative fuel vehicles.
• The petroleum industry could take a leadership position by developing alternative fuels, taking advantage of their existing infrastructure and delivery systems. The auto industry and consumer base would follow. The feds were providing strong incentives, in addition to several state suspension of taxes, for just this strategy.

Sad to say it's taken an economic crash, $4.00 a gallon gas, and the brink of bankruptcy for the auto industry to see this reality.

Wonder how long it will take the petrochemical industry?

Full disclosure: I still work in this industry, but may be a minority with this viewpoint. I wouldn't know, because within the industry, it's not widely discussed - alternative fuels are the elephant in the room.

Another Pet Peeve......

If it goes without saying, then shut up.

Word Attack!! - SUPPOSABLY

This word is one of the banes of my existence: Supposably. It's commonly used in lieu of Supposedly. It is a real word, but with quite an obscure definition: it means that something is CAPABLE OF being supposed, not what IS being supposed - which is how it's typically used. Here is more:

Supposed(ly): Something that is or has been supposed, a supposed fact, or true without personal knowledge.
Example:
Supposedly, he has a post-graduate education; he is an attorney, after all.

In other words, what is being supposed it the level of the attorney's education. The speaker may not have the attorney's transcripts to prove or disprove the attorney's education, but common knowledge indicates that higher education is required for attorneys, as well as bar exams, supposedly.

Supposable(y): Something that could be supposed.
Example: Supposably, my dog could fly to the moon.
In other words, it could be supposed that my dog can fly to the moon, but of course, that would be ridiculous.

As ridiculous as the use of supposABLY when speakers REALLY mean to say supposEDLY.

Scheisse wrapped in a well-designed box

Recently, I've enjoyed the company of friends visiting from Norway. Norway is one of those 'top 5' type countries in the world for practically everything: quality of life, cleanliness, education, social services, health care, employment, child care, quality of locally grown and imported food, and last of all - cost of living. Therefore, it was quite interesting for me to be surprised by some of the things I was surprised by through my visiting friends. I don't know if this represents my aging process and related complacency (God, NO!), or if it's just been so long since I've been overseas that the clarity with which I used to observe such things has faded. (For anyone wondering, I have not been overseas since....2006.)

I suspect that I wasn't expecting to be too surprised by observed differences, other than prices, since our countries are relatively equally robust. However, it was the robustness of a different sort that my friends, and therefore I, observed most frequently.

To start, size. First was People Size. When I was on assignment in Norway, more than one Norwegian observed that I was the first or second ‘regular sized’ American they’d seen on the project. This may have been an anomoly, but there weren’t that many Americans on the project, and I know at least one or two more who were not very large. I’m not talking tall, here.

My friends echoed this sentiment on a few occasions, not menacingly, but rather as an observation. They simply had not seen people of the size and girth in Norway as what they were regularly encountering in the US. The first observance was in a grocery store, in which one woman was so unfortunately obese that she did an about face, got one of the motorized scooter shopping carts, and continued on her way sans foot-power. And, just as when someone points out red flowers that you soon begin seeing everywhere, the same occurred with the observation and discussion about the ‘morbidly obese’ descriptor that the Norwegians had never before heard. We began seeing them everywhere. This was followed by a chance news report stating Colorado as the fittest state in the nation, with only a 46% obesity rate.

Next was Portion sizes. Less is More has probably never been as meaningful before as it is today, in terms of food and drink portions. There are over 200 countries in the world are balancing on a knife's edge in their efforts to fight food shortages, but you'd never know that traveling cross country.

We were trying to eat healthy food - meaning real, unprocessed food, actual fiber, and a minimum of artificial ingredients or preservatives proved difficult at best. This is hard on a road trip, to say the least. And, my Norwegian girlfriend is 4 months along in her pregnancy, and has begun to watch everything she eats much more closely now than before. (I remember a time in Singapore when we ate semi-cooked fish and Indian food on plates made of banana leaves, with our hands, but that's another story.)

The most significant example is our stop in Colorado at a Subway sandwich shop. They each ordered according to desired ingredients, which they enjoyed – except they didn’t know and weren’t asked about the size sub they wanted, so were given 12” subs as default. Each also ordered a Medium-sized soft drink. This is where you are handed an empty cup and pointed to the self-serve soda and ice machine. The Medium-sized cups were HUGE. Bigger than anything other than an iced tea pitcher that I have at home. I’m not sure of size in ounces, but even I was surprised. In fact, right now, I’m drinking an Arby’s Medium-sized soft drink, and it’s a 20-ounce cup. This was the size of the SMALL at Subway on our trip.

Even at a few very nice restaurants, veggies that came with a meal were often just scooped out of the birds’eye frozen baggie, nuked, and served a bit blanched and tasteless. Fortunately, the main servings at nicer restaurants had more of a grip on realistic portion sizes than what you find at most national chains (excluding fast-food and the ‘super sizing’ phenomenon therein). Even so, they could not always be counted on to accurately befit their menu descriptions. On more than one occasion, orders for something containing chicken breast were often delivered with fried chicken breast. On one stop at a grocery for car-worthy snacks, we found it difficult to find a simple granola bar type snack that didn’t have noteworthy amounts of added sugar or other additives. And, surprisingly, they were often quite low in fiber – none more than 10 grams, and none that we could find with a 100% DV of fiber.

So, it was with renewed focus on good, healthy eating that I returned from my trip with the Norwegians. I’m all the better for remembering that what looks healthy on the outside may still be scheisse wrapped in a well-design.

Only YOU can prevent Apostrophe Abuse!!!!!

I'll try not to get soap-boxy here. Has anyone noticed that there has been a seemingly exponential increase in Apostrophe Abuse? Is there perhaps a correlation between Apostrophe Abuse and increased texting or blackberry use? I understand that language often evolves over time, as does communication; and I also appreciate use of brevity when texting or blackberrying.

But - and perhaps I'm old-school here - I still believe that there should remain some pride in one's written word, particularly when it's published. (See how I used that apostrophe there, as a replacement for the "i" in "is", forming a contraction? And earlier in the sentence, for one's, the apostrophe indicates possession?)

I think we have all borne witness to Apostrophe Abuse in local communications - business signs, newspaper ads and the like. But when this starts appearing on a more national level - in magazines, and television - then I feel this is a significant red flag.

When language adapts with communication and technological change, it often adheres to established use, as far as punctuation goes. So, when punctuation changes (incorrectly, at that), does this indicate a tipping point for the general respect for proper grammar? I sure hope not.

YOU can help prevent this scourge by correcting Apostrophe Abuse when you see it - or at least taking the opportunity to educate those who commit the offense. Surely, this abuse is only a matter of educating the offender. I hope.

Clinton Math

Promotion + Raise = Smaller Cubicle....?

Venn, anyone?

...add "wah-wah" effect here...

Life in a Small Town

Life in a small town is easy to take for granted. There is a degree of contentment and safety that tends to make real crimes seem unimaginable - the result of which is a pretty charming daily 'docket' in the local paper. Some excerpts, just from today, include:

A woman reported she was sleeping on her couch when an unknown person entered her apartment sometime after 10 p.m. Wednesday. The intruder ate some bread and cereal and took $5. The intruder then returned at some point, the woman said, and left two full cans of beer along with change from the money that had been taken. The woman said she drank the two beers before calling police Thursday.

A teen called the sheriff's office at 9 p.m. Wednesday to report a UFO sighting. The youth was advised that the object in the sky was a medical helicopter landing at the hospital. The youth apologized to the dispatcher, and admitted he watches "too many space movies."

Yet, even in our little small town, we occasionally have big-city crime. Case in point:

Menacing charges are pending against two brothers, 16 and 21, as a result of a road rage incident. The brothers chased after a man in a pickup truck, after the pickup passed them while in town. No injuries were reported.