BIG WATER-BIG WASTE

BIG WATER

  A riled Pacific leads a wind and rain storm into the Central Coast.

AFTERWARDS

   As you have probably seen or read, California is getting soaked by the "Pineapple Express."  Though the rain has created problems it is a beginning to make up the deficits of three years of drought.  There is still a long way to go.

   I wonder why communities who have been plagued by water shortages do not take more seriously the idea of rainwater capture or harvest.  Many of our Cambria neighbors have done so on a personal basis. Still, hundreds of thousands of gallons are washing away. These photos were taken hours after the last rain.

  Just in this one half block water flows away from the Pacific, down hill and away from potential use in a gray water system.  A French drain, perimeter drain and/or system of storm drain cisterns could harvest millions of gallons to be pumped for treatment or re-injection into the new multi-million dollar brackish water desalination plant.

  Living through drought ought to sensitize us to a more prudent utilization of a precious resource-don't you think?

   See you down the trail.

SMILE-A DRONE IS WATCHING YOU plus IT'S ALL IN THE FOAM-THE WEEKENDER

DRONE SKIRMISHES

      Several years ago while running a large television news operation I had my first relationship with a drone.
      A contact/source with whom I had worked previously called to say he was working with a technology guy and they had developed a flight platform and wanted to test it. He brought a very sophisticated and light weight "miniature"  airplane to the station.  Some of my news managers attended and we were joined by the developer, an investor in the project and two fellows identified as interested parties and potential buyers.  Later I was to learn they were  from a federal agency that had high hopes for the plane.
     The plane fit on a conference table but was rigged so it could take a lightweight camera mount. This was long before "drone" had worked it's way into the public lexicon or  before being pressed into action as they are now.  I was excited by the prospects of flying it over traffic jams, fires, emergency situations and getting images back for broadcast at much less expense than what our helicopter cost to operate.
      My corporate boss lacked vision on this and despite my best efforts he passed and did so in a derisive way.  I told him he was passing up a chance to be the first to use something from the future. Still to no avail.  
      Fast forward to 2014.  They've become ubiquitous and in some cases practical. But I think we've entered a new chapter in our relationship with drones, as this piece of video tape from California demonstrates.

SHADOWS AND FOAM

       I was fascinated by the interplay of the shadows and 

kaleidoscopic flow of waves and sea foam. It provided a sort of black and white shape puzzle.

   See you down the trail.

AN IDEA, ARCHIVE AYN RAND & KISSING THE BEACH

PERPETUITY OF IDEA

A WORLD WHERE IDEAS MATTER

Back in University someone said trying to speak

philosophy to the masses was akin to standing

at the shore and trying to stop the waves.

Maybe it is only nostalgia, but it seems there 

was a time when people would debate, discuss

and explore ideas and politics with an open mind

and with respect.

Today it seems everyone has their mind made up,

convinced in the rightness of their view and the

absolute absurdity of those who disagree.

And, there was a time when the media seemed to

see its role as a place to prod, examine, discuss and 

consider even deep philosophic constructs.

Can you imagine a news anchor today

interviewing Jean Paul Sartre on 

on Existentialism?  Well, Charlie Rose perhaps.

A GREAT FIND FROM THE ARCHIVE

Indeed there was a time. Consider this-

Mike Wallace with Objectivist author Ayn Rand

Here, in part 2 they discuss

Rand's belief in limiting the right and power of voters

Incidentally there is more than an historic example in these clips, since many of the Tea Party and conservative

members of congress are followers of Rand's thinking.

Do you think a future blogger will someday

pull a clip of Kim Kardashian, or an interview with

Stephen King to demonstrate how popular media

explored something deep?

DAYBOOK

CARESSED BY WAVES

From tumble to foam

The shore is constantly in change.

Without pressing my point too far, each wave, not unlike an

idea, tumbling, turning grains of sand

into perpetuity. What if we could track

the evolution of our thinking that way?

See you down the trail.