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I’m writing my blog a bit early; taking off soon to visit a friend in another world, a soap opera of human containment, miscarriage of justice (or there isn’t any). Once at the University of Michigan, I heard a brilliant crusader of the equal justice initiative proclaim, it’s better to be guilty and rich than poor and innocent in America; that frequent reverberation of reality follows me all the time (it seems whenever I feel warm sun on my face); a gift to feel facial filaments of our sun. I tell that to my son all the time. A few months ago, I blogged about a previous visit to my friend; how that day made me notice life things that we take for granted and how I’ve never been the same; a curious by-product of visiting a very scary straight place.

Loyalty is like a rare precious beautiful metal, that soon we’ll have to go Mars to mine and bring back to earth. Much will be said about Elizabeth Taylor in days to come; my appreciation of her iconic status was her uncanny sense of loyalty to her friends (Michael, Rock) and AIDS causes. Nothing obviated her loyalty. She was firm and rock solid loyal; a wonderfully refreshing rare quality here on earth. Loyalty has twists. The CEO of the company that owns Indian Point Nuclear (25 miles from NYC) contends and swears his nuclear plant is safe right up to a 6.1 earthquake. He’ll testify before hearings that the plant is safe. (It’s over 30 years old). So he’s being loyal to his company, Entergy.

Indian Point Nuke plant about 25 miles from NYC

What about loyalty that could potentially put the world’s greatest city in jeopardy? Of course, I ask if he’s loyal to the millions who live 35 miles away. What if someone makes a judgmental mistake and NY gets an 8.0 earthquake? Having the plant ready for that eventuality seems to be the only real loyal human undertaking. Now in Japan, infants are not allowed to drink the water; it’s twice the safe radioactive limit. Curiously, I get the feeling that for those first few days after the Japanese tsunami and earthquake, the world was a loyal, closer, more human place. And then we humans forget and move on to spring fashions, new restaurants and reality television star exploits. Reminds me; in my March 4th blog, I talked about this ‘Charlie Sheen’ business as being staged to get viewership and ratings even higher; they might even get me to watch and I never watch anything other than news, biographies, science or college sports. Indeed, I thought conspiracy theory, brilliantly played out, even firing Charlie and seemingly ending the show. As Popeye said, “I am what I am.” Manipulation and conspiracy is in the air I breathe; now there are rumblings and overtures between CBS and Charlie. La De Dah.

Someone recently asked why I’m always on the run to lectures, meet-ups and conferences; I need to keep shoving stuff into cerebral lobes because “There is still time brother;” a line from the movie and book ‘On the Beach,’ by Nevil Shute; one of the rare novels which still scares the hell out of and haunts me to this day (movie was released in 1959 about a post-apocalyptic nuclear war world aftermath in Australia) Emotions were powerful enough for me to buy several versions of ‘Waltzing Matilda’ and to make me aware that the hour glass I borrowed from the ‘Wicked Witch of the West’ (the very same Ms. Gulch) is running out of Jersey shore sand quickly.

‘Waltzing Matilda’ Youtube with explanation of song.

Andre Rieu from Australia version of ‘Waltzing Matilda’

This past Monday I hopped on my favorite train in the world, the Jersey Coast line, NJ Transit to New York Penn Station. Daylight savings afforded me more time to absorb scenery which consisted of mid-America homes, the greatest collection of smoke stacks outside of China in the world, ducks navigating polluted ponds, and bodies of water (Raritan Bay and River). One old factory was probably built in the early 1940’s. My mother Rosie, may’ve worked there in the riveting department. Just then my ipod played “Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree;’ how synchronistic. Then a consciousness stream hit me; I just read that a team led by a University of Hartford professor and archaeologist may have pinpointed the long-sought city of Atlantis somewhere completely unexpected — in a vast marsh in Southern Spain. I was so confused. I’ve always been loyal to the notion that Atlantis is off South Carolina somewhere; I even went there to play tennis for eight straight days and to see if I could feel Atlantis on the beach.  I was deep breathing, head resting on the train window, wanting to visualize my mother riveting. Deep breaths were anticipatory: I was going to my first class on meditation ever in my earthly existence.

The class was ‘IMeditate’, part of the worldwide, ‘art of living’ movement. Also check out the link:    http://iMeditate.org

Meditation class was held on Fifth Avenue on the fifth floor; all a new world for me; so was leaving my shoes in a closet and smelling the redolent gentility of candles. Twenty two people sat (in floor chairs) and listened to the warm guiding directive words of Murali and Sherry as they weaned this beautifully diverse group into nostril breathing exercises followed by  a deep meditative state(while Manhattan rush hour sounds were muted far below). My old body wouldn’t allow long periods of folded legs so I outstretched legs and palms. Far away from me now were the cerebral synaptic annoying activities that have kept me awake for the past twenty years; I was at a peace. I thought of nothing but tranquil breathing. I observed after we came out of our depths, that I would’ve come all the way from Power, Montana(it exists) to feel this relaxed. “I’ll be back,” is what I said in a deep voice. Walking to Penn Station, I noticed little puddles of street rain water vibrating in the wind and lights on the 23rd floor of a building I was walking across the street from going off. A piece of newspaper blew in front of me. I wondered if there was a hidden message in the graphic pattern in which it blew.  ‘IMeditate’ worked. Funny; how this only happens in Manhattan.

Two days before last Monday (Saturday) I attended the Liberty States Fiction Writers Conference in Woodbridge, NJ. A few minutes before leaving, I downed my morning vitamins including a garlic capsule; there’s a plethora of medicinal applications to garlic so please do this bloggist a favor and start googling. A few days prior to the conference (this is like a particular Seinfeld episode; I keep going back in time) I discovered the sponsoring group on line and emailed if I could join and attend since I’m a fiction writer (Vichy Water). Walking to the conference hotel, swinging my brief case like a poised Neanderthal, I remembered the garlic and did three breath sprays. Once I was in Cape Cod. Nixon was President. A huge spider, the size of a Frisbee, crawled between the dash and windshield rendering my car unusable; ostensibly there was no way to get to it until I remembered I had breath spray and surmised it might work on the arachnid; three sprays and it passed away. Conference wise, I was thrilled to meet fellow fiction writers, agents and publishers. After getting my name badge, I moved to the side and watched droves of women register; and no men. At one time the group was a romantic writers group. I didn’t research. Finally a man on the arms of his wife passed close by just as I entertained slipping out the back door into the morning dew. I was brave but not that brave.  Alas five more men and I went to my first lecture. What a perfectly marvelous day with incredible speakers (judging by my copious notes, I learned so much about my writing craft); met Jonathan Maberry, writer/lecturer extraordinaire and best selling author Mary Janice Davidson. Never pre-judge in life. My fellow fiction writers were gracious, effusive and wonderful to be around. I said to a few, “I’ll be back.”

generic cola. caramel color added. so is metal dissolving phosphoric acid.

Sitting at the table for lunch with nine women, I asked for water and mentioned it’s all I drink; no soda forever more (since past three years). 75% of Americans are dehydrated. A glass of water at night will shut down hunger pangs and five glasses a day may decrease risk of colon cancer 45% and make one less likely for bladder cancer.(I do a lot of seltzer. Love bubbles near nostrils). Now, I heard this in passing through the Lincoln Tunnel once on a bus with a gregarious seatmate. Do southern cops carry cola in trunks to remove blood from a highway after an accident and does the citric acid in cola remove stains from china?  Phosphoric acid (in cola) can dissolve metal and does it leach calcium from bones; therefore more osteoporosis. Because I’m a cynical creature, would any soda or nuke plant executive come to the podium?  Maybe they would, if we were all “on the beach” waiting for a cloud. Now I think of Fukushima nuclear plant before I lay me down to sleep. It’s 11:40PM and I know where my son is.

List time. I like lists; always trying to find the ones that include Jersey at or near the top. This just flashed in front of me; maybe I’ll share. About one-fourth of Egyptian workers under 25 are unemployed; a statistic that is often cited as a reason for the revolution there. In the United States, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in January an official unemployment rate of 21 percent for workers ages 16 to 24. Now back to the list; yes, a quick digression. I like digress, egress, and progress; it’s life’s essence. One more digression; there’s a link between occasional physical activity and heart attack so be careful out there (remember ‘Hill Street Blues’) I do my 90 minutes on the bike every day to keep brain telomeres long. The top brain magnet cities where college grads now go(not New York or LA anymore) 1. New Orleans-Metairie-Kenner, La.(picked up 37,000 grads. 5.4% gain) 2. Raleigh-Cary, N.C.(29,000 grads) 3. Austin-Round Rock, Texas  4.Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin, Tenn  5. Kansas City, Mo./Kan. 6. Birmingham-Hoover, Ala 7. San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, Calif. 8. Denver-Aurora-Broomfield, Colo. 9. Columbus, Ohio  10. Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, Wash.

More quick news. Solar Probe Plus will make the first ever trip to the sun in 2018. And a list of industries you might want to stay clear of until that solar probe comes back from the sun: Apparel manufacturing. Newspaper publishing. Record stores. Photo finishing. Formal wear and costume rental. DVD, Game and Video Rental. Wired Telecom Carriers.

A scene from 'Casablanca'. I LOVE that movie. Long story. Actually I wrote a story(novel) because of it.

‘On The Beach’ scares me for a lot of reasons. Fred Astaire raced cars in the movie. Gregory Peck and Ava Gardner were magical and so was Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman’s kiss in ‘Casablanca;’ a kiss that you sensed could go nowhere; sad and unrequited. Me thinks I’m going to get into meditation and watch some of these old movies after a twenty minute breathing session. Me thinks I want to search the world (NJ really) for vestiges of loyalty and bottle the notions (when I find it) in plastic soda bottles that could take a thousand years to decompose. Me thinks I’ll miss Elizabeth Taylor and that precious grand Hollywood era. Me thinks I’ll worry about Indian Point Nuke plant until? But New York gets 20% of its energy from the plant. Me thinks I’ll worry about the world running out of water, about climate change and the extinction of North Atlantic Blue Fin Tuna and the Eastern cougar. Me thinks most folks don’t really care. Me thinks I’m too alone on an island. Me thinks I’ll be taking more train rides into Manhattan regularly to meditate so I don’t have to ‘me thinks’ as much anymore. But?

Favor to blogger(me): If you like or even don’t like blog, please SHARE with a friend; it kind of energizes me. I welcome all comments and questions. I guess I’m hands-on and loyal.

website: http://vichywater.net

email: earthood@gmail.com

Facebook:  Cal Schwartz

Twitter:  Earthood

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Duke Snider

Sometimes I spew forth titles of blog engagement, operating from my gut (things on my mind) so I call topics “by-products of intestinal excavation” and I let streams of consciousness take over. Spring is a few days day away but today, the temperature will get to 75 degrees, officially laying oblique, memory remnants of two blizzards; whilst shoveling, making pronouncements, “Now I know why Jersey folks go to Florida. I don’t want to do this anymore.”

Captain Ed Freeman(Medal of Honor) & President Bush

Passages: A high school friend, Sandy, raconteur extraordinaire, always an emissary of life’s humor and worth, passed yesterday morning (too close for comfort). Jane Russell died recently. As I recollect, a picture of  Jane adorned my closet door when I was in high school as did Duke Snider (Brooklyn Dodgers, my only favorite team) who also just passed. What’s happening (the television show)? One more passage to speak about; Captain Ed Freeman, US Air Force died in Idaho in 2008. Medal of Honor Recipient, he flew 14 helicopter missions in a row to rescue 29 wounded Americans from central highlands in Vietnam. Maybe more of us would’ve known about Captain Freeman, if Lindsay, Charlie and Paris didn’t usurp all the coverage.

Back in those days, CBS television had the logo of an eye. Funny thing, it’s the same logo fifty years later. If you study the evolution of business logos, there’s been a march to smoother, rounder logos, going away from ‘harsh’ angles; something to do with ’round’ being more appealing culturally (especially in China and India); a science to company logos. “A good player goes where the puck is. A great player goes where the puck is going to be.” Gretzky said that. I’d like my blogs to be topical, anticipatory, and cutting edge.  Below is a youtube video of scene from ‘Grapes of Wrath.’

Grapes of Wrath (1 minute trailer with Henry Fonda)

Now, why ‘Grapes of Wrath’ a must see movie?  I’ve got a clip from one of the most poignant scenes with Henry Fonda. It’s a minute long. Go ahead, make my day. My head is barely above water, treading, swimming in all the news about Japan. I don’t sleep. My bedroom at 3AM:  CNN channel flashes shadows and images across the back wall; looks like a disco. Verticals are tightly closed. I imagine neighbors from across the street seeing bursts of light flashing at unsightly hours through the gentle transparency of vertical fabric. Wonder what they think is going on? Can I be clinically depressed from the images of the brave, stoic, amazing Japanese people? Up and down the stairs all night long for a few glasses of cardiac nourishing red wine to wash down the melatonin. My head is swimming. I can’t find a place for myself; it’s this nuclear ‘thing’ and the horror of 500,000 homeless people.

And then I think about a theme of my blogs; not being enamored how some companies make a profit. “They breathe profits; they eat the interest on money. If they don’t get it, they die the way you die without air, without side-meat,” Tom Joad, from ‘Grapes of Wrath’ talking about the banks. By the way, a few blogs ago, I suggested seeing the movie, ‘Inside Job;'(won the Academy Award for Best Documentary) about OUR banks precipitating our recent financial hell. I’m getting to the point. I’m physically distressed from everything; Japan, brave Libyans fighting alone for freedom, my solitude in Gordon Gekko’s greedy world, so close to my front door and photo albums. The other night I looked for help to express myself. Then I remembered ‘Grapes of Wrath’ by John Steinbeck, written in 1939, (a marvelous year for movies and books. I wonder why?) The novel focuses on the Joads, a poor family of sharecroppers during the Depression, driven from their Oklahoma home by drought, economic hardship and banks foreclosing (sound familiar?) So here’s how I feel, expressed by Tom Joad. Damn, I really feel this. “Whenever they’s a fight so hungry people can eat, I’ll be there. Whenever they’s a cop beatin’ up a guy, I’ll be there . . . . I’ll be in the way guys yell when they’re mad an.’ I’ll be in the way kids laugh when they’re hungry an’ they know supper’s ready. An’ when our folks eat the stuff they raise an’ live in the houses they build-why, I’ll be there,” Tom Joad said in his farewell speech.

The cynicism (last blog topic) in my soul is like an exposed nuclear reactor rod; it keeps getting hotter. GE built the Fukushima reactors so there is responsibility; did they worry about profit not safety planning with every conceivable contingency? I snooped around Google and found that Dale Bridenbaugh(along with two others) quit their jobs at GE to protest the Mark 1 design of the plants, GE was building at Fukushima. Is it another chapter of how corporate greed kills humans? How brave those 3 men and the Japanese workers trying to stave off a meltdown with global implications. I love this (sarcastic); The Indian Point Nuclear Reactor is 38 miles from New York City (35 years old too) and was built on the Ramapo fault line so it’s susceptible to an earthquake. Did I hear a company spokesperson recently say that Indian Point can withstand a 6.0 earthquake, which New York never gets, at least up to now? Why can’t it withstand a 10.0?  New York Governor Andrew Cuomo now wants to shut the Indian Point nuclear power plant, after it emerged, the plant was leaking.  The plant is, according to the U.S. government, the most under threat from an earthquake.

Indian Point Nuke Plant

Would a corporate spokesperson ever admit anything? Would cell phone company execs ever say they need to do more research on cell phone usage heating up the area of the brain closest to the ear? Contingencies obviate profits. Imagine (John Lennon) a problem with Indian Point, 38 miles from the greatest city in the world. Did I also hear that new reactor designs are coming in “cheaper” and more cost effective which mean they are less safe?(cheaper, cutting corners) Keeping more company: last weeks blog mentioned cigarettes(smoking) kill 5 million Americans a year. In my recent novel, I illustrated how American companies may’ve been responsible for more deaths than the Germans in WWII(since end of war). And are a lot of nuclear plants going to be celebrating 40th birthdays? A lot of new technology is around. Maybe it’s time to pasteurize them. New Jersey’s got nukes. Alexander Gates, chair of the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Rutgers-Newark, says tsunamis can form anywhere under the right circumstances, and he worries the East Coast is unprepared for one, the report said. President Obama just announced we’re looking into nuclear reactor safety. Good idea. Maybe also work on saving the lives of 5 million smokers. More Keeping Company; Subway has surpassed McDonalds in world wide number of locations. And Diet Coke passed Pepsi by and is number two behind Coke. I don’t really give, since I stopped drinking all soda 3 years ago. Finally, goods sold through social media may increase six times by 2015, to reach $30 billion and that’s probably mostly Facebook.

My “feeling” like Tom Joad is not limited to nukes, cigarettes, radioactive tainted cucumbers in a Lilly field, but a general malaise brought about by dangling participles, dashed personal expectations and love of country. Like a roller coaster or rolling stone gathering no moss whatsoever, I’m confused, dazed and worry about: cuts in education, scientific research, alternative energy and a billion kids (10 to 19) mostly in the developing world who don’t go to school. The world is running out of water and Blue Fin Tuna. The Eastern cougar came off the endangered species list because they’re now declared extinct by the US government.

Eastern Cougar.(save pix)_None left on Earth

US life expectancy is 27th in world; we’re 11th in spending on research and development and 28th in the world in satisfaction with living standard. I worry, that on a talk show the other morning, a 7 minute segment was devoted to discussing “The Bachelor.” Last week,  3 referees of the Rutgers-St. Johns basketball game were blatant in not making 7 game changing calls which would’ve allowed Rutgers to win. I yelled “fix.” In some mysterious way it was. But two days later, those refs were back to refereeing games and everybody forgets and nobody cares. The NCAA governing body is just like a company.(SEE MARCH 11th BLOG for more on the Rutgers St Johns Game) The world forgets Chernobyl, Darfur, Haiti and the gulf oil spill. “Those that forget the past are condemned to relive it.” George Santayana said that a long time ago. Chernobyl. Fukishima.  I feel like drifting tomorrow under the boardwalk, in solitude and sounds of silence, to wonder, ‘What’s it all about Alfie?”

List Time: Worst Nuclear Accidents. Chernobyl(1986). Tokaimus, Japan(1999). Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania(1979). Golania, Brazil(1987) K19 Soviet Sub(1967) 8 sailors who were exposed to radiation, trying to fix sub reactor, died within weeks.

More. I like this list; it’s like a magic world affairs wand. Just plug in anything and it all seems to come down to oil. Biggest Oil Reserves in World. 15. Brazil. 14. USA. 13. China. 12. Qatar. 11. Kazakhstan. 10. Nigeria (I didn’t realize that) 9.Libya. 8. Russia.7. United Arab Emirates. 6. Venezuela. 5. Kuwait.  4. Iraq.  3.Iran. 2 Canada( I didn’t realize that either) 1. Saudi Arabia (20%)

I’m going to Netflix “Grapes of Wrath.” I need to feel the words of John Steinbeck and see Henry Fonda give them life. Give me liberty, words, ideas, and faith. On March 19th(tomorrow) there’s going to be a Super Moon, meaning the moon will be the closest to us than in the past 18 years. Everything is accelerated; maybe it’s the digital information age. What me worry? Why do I? Then there’s omerta, a code of silence I recently discussed in my March 4th blog. Why do people say stupid things? A former governor said President Obama grew up in Kenya. A WNBA basketball player said God is paying back for Pearl Harbor and a comedian who was the voice of the Aflac duck made a stupid joke about Japan and was fired an hour later. My head is still swimming. A bottle of wine is 1/4 empty. I’m heading up to CNN and news of Japan. Tomorrow is another day. Gosh I feel like Scarlett 0’Hara. American life expectancy is up to 78 years.  One American worker produces as much per capita as six Chinese. I think tomorrow I’ll become an apostle to good stuff and make myself feel better. I’m here; my friend is not. It’ll be seventy-five degrees and I’ll be hopeful with ‘spring’ in my step and in my chest. And I’ll remember the good old days when I was keeping company with my wife not with nuclear reactors.

CONTACT INFO:   Website:  http://vichywater.net

email:  earthood@gmail.com

Facebook:  Cal Schwartz

Twitter:  Earthood

Book Trailer:  65 seconds:

vichy water Book Trailer 65 seconds

Video of Rutgers vs St Johns (last minute of game):

Rutgers vs St Johns (last minute and 9 seconds of game)

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The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the world’s largest and highest energy particle accelerator. It is expected to address some of the most fundamental questions of physics, advancing humanity’s understanding of the deepest laws of nature.(Located at the French-Swiss border near Geneva, some 575 feet deep) A while back, when they were gearing up, I lost a night’s sleep thinking they were going to create a tiny little black hole right here on the good earth that would grow and wipe out all my hopes of eating at the ‘Heart Attack Grill;’ a hamburger place in Chandler, Arizona that fry potatoes in lard, offers jolt cola, has some four-deck hamburgers that hit 8000 calories and offer free food to anyone over 350 pounds(you have to weigh in first). A young spokesperson (500 pounds) died recently of complications, duh!

What an affront to the obesity epidemic. Somebody’s eating there since they’re opening a branch in Dallas soon. Speaking of obesity; on the diabetes front; by 2020, 52% of Americans will be either diabetic or pre-diabetic. Advice; hop on an exercise bike (lengthen telomeres); peddle for an hour a day and Google ‘magnesium’; a good deal of research available on how the mineral facilitates sugar metabolism. I do both and have no diabetes when I should have it. All four of my grandparents had diabetes and genetically it’s an F2 familial, skipping a generation; four genetic guns aimed at my cerebral temple. Why did I bring up the Collider? My head aches from recent news events. Not enough melatonin to bring normal sleep patterns; hey, sometimes the stuff works. Oh and do lots of fiber a day; promotes longevity. Oh, but most don’t care.

Yesterday was the darkest day in American college basketball history. Rutgers University played St. John’s at Madison Square Garden and the forces of evil, Darth something, decided Rutgers must lose if it can be orchestrated; the 3 refs failed to make at least 7 flagrant no-calls near the end of the game and even walked off the court with time still on the clock. Bless Youtube.

watch?v=YlOWkNBxlTo

I watched in horror and disbelief. Imagination percolates; I profess being a writer of fiction. Borrowing a line from ‘Cool Hand Luke’, “What we got here is a failure to communicate.” No, what we got here are refs and Mr/Ms. Mxplcxhyt fixing a game (if it could be fixed); and it probably was. ‘Fix’ is herein used to connote, despite the ‘odds’ of the game; that the ‘no-calls’ were so numerous/egregious by all 3 refs, that there has to be another reason why Rutgers wasn’t allowed to win. It can’t be human error. Maybe it was an “organized” mistake. ‘They’ know, because they’re smart, that the furor dies down in a few days, everybody forgets and the refs get a payday. If Kenneth Starr could only come back and look deeply into college sports, especially the Big East, so closely nestled near ‘John’s,’ the best veal in the city. If I were a rich man; if only; if I were a smoker, I’d be doing three packs a day now in frustration and disgust at a head of a college basketball ‘big’ east’ league entity. Ah cigarettes, the perfect segue.  Ah but nobody cares. Ah, and few remember what happened in the gulf. Ah gee. Remembering is a tough profession.

the 3 refs and big east head

NY Post back page sport section 3-10-11

A while back there was a movie about conspiracy theory with an actor who just cut a domestic deal to get out of jail free. Wow, do cigarettes companies conspire. But do countries conspire too? A thought while eating tuna fish with hot peppers, onions and ketchup; maybe countries need tobacco to get rid of excess population legally, conveniently, without war.  Five million people a year die (600,000 from 2nd hand smoke) from cigarette smoking while our (I love to use the possessive) cigarette companies take in $60 billion in revenue. What confusion I have; a product (crop) which kills is legal the world over. But America has made smoking more difficult; got to like NYC Mayor Bloomberg, trying to outlaw it on the city streets. Bloomberg is 2nd richest New Yorker coming in at $18 billion. Koch, (not the former mayor) a conservative is worth $20 billion. Movies make it tough on smoking; if you show it, you risk a higher less profitable rating like ‘R’ and ‘PG.’ You can’t pay to have cigarettes in movies anymore.

But cigarette companies like to spend less on advertising (save money) and find creative ways to get their message out there; like Sigourney Weaver lighting up a cigarette in ‘Avatar;’ wonder how many kids(4 million underage smokers) were influenced. America has fared well in war against smoking; still don’t get the rationale of considering it a legal crop. For a few thousand farmers that are left here in America, we let 5 million people a year die. But alas our cigarette companies are pulling up stakes and heading overseas (85% of some tobacco farmer’s crop goes overseas) Krakow, Poland has twice the percentage of smokers as USA. 210 broad measures to curb Polish smoking failed. A billion people smoke world wide; 50 million in USA and 320 million in China (more than our total population). Hey, according to my friend Ebenezer Scrooge, cigarettes are doing a wonderful job at decreasing surface population in a world that doesn’t have enough of anything. Forecast: tobacco is going to be around a long time, through climate change and the singularity. Hey again; in the Woody Allen movie ‘Sleeper,’ it’s depicted that in 500 years, cigarette smoking is finally proven to be good for you (even though it has 599 bad chemicals in every puff) and a third world war(nuclear) was started by the head of the NYC teacher’s union, Albert Shanker, a nice guy who cared about teachers and took them out on strike every few years. Wisconsin needs Al Shanker; maybe Jersey too.  Ah, but nobody cares.

It’s in the blog title. Oil: but not a lot to say. I did notice that rising oil prices has precipitated fears of the recovery faltering, so all of a sudden, mysteriously the price of a barrel drops 3%.  When news broke that Saudi Arabian police fired shots to break up a protest Thursday afternoon, prices soared $3 per barrel in just 12 minutes, erasing most of what had been a 3.6 % decline. The whole thing reminds me of a scene from ‘Sound of Music;’ the marionettes, lonely goatherd and manipulation. Ah gee; a lot of oil in them there hills out west. Have a nice day. Life is like a box of chocolate; you never know or do you, what you get. But I just laid some good cryptic cynical stuff on yawl. But nobody cares.

I was too young to understand Senator Joe McCarthy, the communist hysteria and blacklisted artists in the 1950’s whose lives were ruined because they didn’t or did talk. ‘The Front’ is a 1976 movie dealing with those issues; check it out; good stuff; you walk away uplifted at the end. Tell Danny LaGattuta, “Calvin sent you.”  I just ran into the downstairs bathroom and threw cold water on my face.

Deja-vu is all my over my life.  In Belmar, New Jersey, there’s a safe secure jetty for meditation. Deja-vu and my friend Ruth from Seattle make me feel I was around the Jersey shore a few hundred years before McCarthy. Cold water droplets are sliding under my chin line and I’m letting two in particular, engage in a race of reality.  Rep. Peter King concluded a House Homeland Security Committee hearing today that investigated the radicalization of Muslims in America; the New York Republican said he hoped it put to rest the “mindless hysteria” that preceded it. Was this hearing necessary? We’re all Americans. Joe McCarthy; are you hiding in my cold water faucet?  The water droplets disappeared at my throat. Is Peter McCarthy back again? Did we recently put our Japanese-American citizens in internment camps?  Wisconsin passed a state senate bill taking away collective bargaining without the democrats present?  Oh. Oh. Joe McCarthy was a senator from Wisconsin. Wait. I’ll be right back; more water. Rush Limbaugh earns $ 58 million a year; Glen Beck, $33 million; Sean Hannity, $22 million; Don Imus, $11 million( and he got fired from NBC a few years ago for saying racist things about the Rutgers Women’s basketball team) and I write a free, spirited blog that manages to throw in techniques on extending your life. Oh well. Nobody cares.

On Monday night March 7th, my son and I went to the American Museum of Natural History Hayden Planetarium to listen to the Isaac Asimov Memorial Debate on “The Theory of Everything, Still Searching?”  Six physicists/astro-physicists participated in debate whether the entire universe can be explained with a single unifying theory (string theory); good bonding for a parent/child to do together. Walking on Columbus Avenue, I remembered promising my Facebook friends I’d do a beer and a banana on the way to the debate and I did; wish there were better documented uses for banana peels. A question remains unanswered, unrequited, un-asked; the line was too long and I felt like a lay person Kentucky tobacco farmer but here goes (anybody out there?). Recent radiation findings seem to suggest the universe was recycled so does Hugh Everett’s 1951 Princeton PhD dissertation on parallel worlds being proven mathematically have any bearing on that? I marveled how fast we caught a cab heading downtown and how ‘cool’ all of the astrophysicists really were; a brave new world. Can’t wait to go back and learn about cars riding in the air one day and beef being grown in a lab dish.

Lists time. The best restaurants in America (and I’ve never been to any. You see I’ve got this theory; Lettuce is lettuce) #1. French Laundry, Yountville, California. #2 Per Se, NYC. #3. Le Bernadin, NYC. #4. Daniel, NYC #5. Alinea, Chicago.  #7 Chez Panisse, Berkeley, Calif. # 13. Peter Luger, Brooklyn, N.Y.  #14 Katz’s Deli, NYC (huh?) Now to America’s Least toxic cities (remembering Philadelphia, St. Louis, New York(North Jersey are the worst)(air quality, water quality, superfund) McAllen, Texas; Little Rock, Arkansas; Raleigh, North Carolina; Orlando, Florida, Las Vegas. (all southern/ western cities; I recall flying into Newark Airport some years ago, looking at grey, brown, tired and old, reconciling Columbus landed near Jersey(sort of)not Las Vegas so Jersey has a leg up on toxic logic because it’s been settled longer. Am I a Jersey settler?)

So that’s all folks; another blog, another day. I do need to express how physically sick I was watching the end of Rutgers-St.John’s basketball game yesterday; been watching and playing basketball since two years after the McCarthy hearings; a long time ago. What happened at that game was more than tragic; seven NON calls by the refs; flagrant and egregious but it wasn’t human error by 3 separate refs but somebody poised to lose if Rutgers won; How sad; commentators and reporters all over America are silent about the ‘f’ word. Things happen. Remember Madoff? Remember McCarthy. Remember the Alamo. Remember Pearl Harbor. Things happen; never think they can’t. Remember, that we’ll forget what happened at Madison Square Garden in just a few days. The refs will go back to being refs. Thing is, nobody cares and somebody knows that and counts on it.

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VIDEO of Rutgers – St. John’s Basketball final 1:09

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlOWkNBxlTo

BOOK TRAILER YOUTUBE VIDEO;   65 seconds long:

book trailer

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