TomS Words of Wisdom

I saw this article on Cooking For Engineers and thought of all the Brussels Sprouts that my brother was forced to eat. When we were little we each got to choose a vegetable when we were at the grocery store. I tended to choose Brussels Sprouts because I knew that my brother didn't like them. He likewise tended to choose lima beans because I didn't like them.

Had lunch today with my Grandma Carol. We went out to "Tomato thyme" just a few blocks from her apartment. We had a good long visit catching up on various family happenings.

This evening we got together with my Aunt and Uncle, who live in Campbell, and went out for Chinese. After dinner we returned to my Aunt and Uncle's house as visited for a while longer. During this visit my Grandma was shocked to hear how little TV I've watched in the last six months. And she asked how I got my news, so I showed her My.Yahoo.com page.

Flight to San Jose was withoutincident. Dad was
waiting in the cell phone lot as I got off the plane
and we were at his apartment within thirty minutes.
More in the morning after I sleep and fix his computers.

You know your life is way too busy, when you're packing for a weekend trip on Tuesday. [There just simply isn't any other time left before the plane leaves.]

“Finish your Homework – People all over the world are `hungry` for your job!” - unknown

I got a nice thank you from GLAZA for my e-mail about the Elephants.

-------- Original Message --------

Subject:	A Message of Thanks From The GLAZA President
Date:	Wed, 07 Sep 2005 12:08:37 -0700
From:	GLAZA <@lazoo.org>

A Message Of Thanks From The GLAZA President

Dear GLAZA Member: Thank you for caring about the mission of the Los Angeles Zoo and its commitment to providing the finest care for all of its animals. We believe that zoos play a vital role in educating the public — especially children — about conservation and the need to protect species such as elephants. All elephants are under siege in the wild, due to habitat loss and encroaching civilizations. Asian elephants, like Gita and Billy, are endangered, with less than 40,000 remaining in the wild. Conservation is the primary reason elephants are at our Zoo and for the majority of our visitors, a trip to the Zoo will be the only opportunity they will have to see an elephant up close. We appreciate your support in communicating your desire to see elephants remain at the Los Angeles Zoo. Sincerely, Connie Morgan GLAZA President

Thank you for your continued support of the Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association 5333 Zoo Drive • Los Angeles, CA • 90027 • 323/644-6001

 

If you have received this e-mail in error or would no longer like to receive e-mails from the Los Angeles Zoo click here

I made a batch of fruity salsa this afternoon and I failed to carefully read the can of diced peppers before I added them. It turned out that instead of chopped green chilies [mild] they were chopped jalapenos [hot]. The resulting salsa is really good but has a slow burn that's about a full star hotter then what I really intended, and is just barely within my tolerance.

It's so good. But... but ... but... it's so hot.

In the salsa is:

• 1/2 bunch fresh cilantro, chopped fine
• one 4 oz can diced jalapenos
  should have been diced green chilies
• one 14.5 oz can petite cut diced tomatoes
• one 14.5 oz can petite cut diced tomatoes with zesty jalapenos
• one nectarine, chopped
• two packets Splenda
• 1/2 cup fresh blue berries
• 1/4 cup dried chopped onions
• splash lemon juice
• two pinches garlic salt
• dash Old Bay

Mix ingredients in a medium size mixing bowl. Let stand 30 minutes. Serve with corn tortilla chips. Refrigerate unused portion.

I've finialy started to post photos to my Flickr account. I'm still learning about it. But so far it's way cool.

This will be my first test post to one of my blogs from flickr.

My geology prof at VT spend a good chunk of a not one but a couple of
lectures talking about the reality of and likely economics of peak oil
production. His basic prediction was that the peak rate of oil
production would occur at some ill defined time in the following 20 to
30 years [that was about 12 years ago]. And that the fact that oil
production had peeked would only be apparent a few years later due to
several factors I've since forgotten. As I recall the economic
ramifications that he presented were: assuming a linear growth rate in
oil demand and a linear/moderately elastic demand curve; and given the
exponential energy costs of finding and recovering reserves; that the
price escalation of oil would shift from more or less following
inflation to exponential growth above the rate inflation as the existing
reserves get tapped out. In all he painted a very pessimistic picture
of high energy prices and crumbling western economies.

I also had an econ prof give a similar lecture about the timing and
economics of peak oil. Though his interesting insights were what
happens when the price of energy from oil starts to exceed those from
renewable sources like wind, solar and biofuels. As I recall this
started to kick in at about $4/gal in 1990 dollars. When these were
added to basically the same economic assumptions, he ended up with about
the same results for the price of oil but only a small bump in the
overall price of energy as the world shifts to renewable forms of energy
generation and the associated distribution and storage infrastructure.

So far what I've seen in the reports of world oil production and
expected total earth reserves still puts peek oil somewhere between 2010
and 2020. So with an useful life of five to ten years you should still
be able to afford gasoline for your 2006 H2 when it dies. But by then
you'll probably want to replace it with hydrogen fuel cell / electric
version.

As for refining capacity, I expect that Mexico may end up as a major
source of refined fuels for the US in coming years. And if Afghanistan
can achieve some sense of political stability then they could well
become the major refiner for China, assuming that China's environmental
movement grows faster then it's refining capacity. Which is likely
given, the speed of modern Internet communication, China's rapid and
rather dirty industrialization and their government's likely support /
tolerance of environmental activism in lue of political activism.

TTFN
Tom

Sayles, Charles wrote:

>Tom
>Last night at one of the low price gas stations I filled up the Buick at $2.999 gallon. All of the rest are $3.05 or more. It will be interesting to see what Ed and Laura pay on their drive up today. I have noticed in the last couple of times driving to Glendale from here that the traffic has been a little less and I attribute that to the higher price of gasoline is keeping the rift-raft off I-5.
>
>This morning an expert on TV was saying that cost of refining oil to gas, plus distribution, plus taxes is about $1 per gallon. There are 42 gallons per barrel. $3 gas translate into about $80 oil. To get $4 gasoline oil would have to go about $120 per barrel. He went on to say that those kinds are price are not likely. Currently the world demand is a 80 million barrels per day, and the supply is about the same. Over the next couple of years an additional 15 million barrel per day supply is coming on line and that will drive down oil prices.
>
>The higher price of gasoline is due to reduce refining capacity and with Louisiana refineries out of service there is a net flow go gasoline to the east and the prices all over the country go up. And since natural gas can be used in some cases as replacement for oil and gasoline its price is going up.
>
>I suppose Californians are going to be pretty adamant about fixing this problem. However new refineries in California or drilling off the coast are off the table.
>
>Dad
>
>Charles W. Sayles
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Tom Sayles
>Sent: Wednesday, August 31, 2005 8:13 PM
>To: Sayles, Charles
>Subject: Re: Bring Your Laptop
>
>
>Regular unleaded is already hitting $3+ at some to the stations up
>here. [I'm not really gona worry until it hits about $4.]
>
>TTFN
> Tom
>
>Sayles, Charles wrote:
>
>
>
>>Ed-Laura
>>
>>If you bring your laptop, you can wirelessly connect to the internet at Uncle Barry's and use a T10 connection at my place. We both have DSL.
>>
>>Looks like gasoline might cost $3 per gallon.
>>
>>Dad
>>
>>Charles W. Sayles
>>