Superweeds, and I'm not talking "weed"

Had an early phone call so I lifted my game and made it in 46 minutes. 13C, no wind or rain. Year-to-date I've biked 2,359 KMs vs. a potential 4,308 KMs if I had biked 100% of the time to work. That's 55% of the time on the bike, 45% on the bus.

Today's NPR On Point show was on the evolution of agricultural superweeds after Monsanto introduced Roundup in the 1970s. It worked great and allowed farmers to stop manual tilling to control weeds, and with fertilizer reduced the need to rotate crops. More money, more efficiency. But some weeds are now resistant and farmers are getting nervous again. Should industry spray more, use stronger chemicals and live with the risk of even more resistant weeds and environmental pollution?

Here comes the need for balance again. Non-farmers and activists simply say "Told you so" and "Go organic", but practical farmers say "It's not economical anymore to pull weeds, and we can't hire people to do it." In the middle of that, progressive farmers are using a combination of reasonable chemical application, crop rotation and ground cover plants to keep weeds at bay and avoid over reliance on chemicals. I would absolutely avoid strengthening the chemicals because without doubt we know that superweeds and pollution will materialize. I think the public needs to pay more for food if it results in a more sustainable environment. The public won't WANT to pay, but as with other things (e.g. national debt, reliance on cheap oil, and poor lifestyle habits) people have to be realistic about the repercussions of continually relying on an economic answer to their problems.

Is the internet making us dumber?

AM: 10C, wind E6, drizzle, 54 minutes. Slow because I had a big breakfast after an early call. Won't do that again!

The NPR On Point show was a debate between two guys who argued about the effect of the web, SMS, Twitter etc. on our ability to consume and process large amounts of material, such as reading an educational text or history book. Our brains are being trained to demand stimulation and sound bites, because of hyperlinks in web pages, etc. The contrary point is that it develops more nimble thinking. As always, I think a balance is required, but without doubt we're all getting more peripheral info about many things, and not the reverse. I'm glad I did an MBA and have written research based reports that require organization and consistency. It helps me remember that processing and creating a large, focused amount of material requires time and revisions. Whereas blogging for example can be done purely as a stream of thought, without care for a real theme, perfect style, etc.

The Perfect Tomato, in the rain

AM: 13C, wind SE 15km/hr, 60 minutes at least. Downpour, took lots of time of my ride, and complicated by flat tire that needed replacing before I left. Small nail right through the tire.

PM: Went to friend's house to watch the Stanley Cup, which Chicago wrapped up. Got a ride home from Jeanne.

NPR On Point show was on tomatoes, of all things. But it was completely fascinating. Evening ride was on grey divorce, ala the Gores. Really pretty boring as I'm not too grey and am happily married.