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.

Yellowstone Bison go to Ted Turner

2,244 kms biked this year.

AM: Wind E 11km/hr, 13C, overcast no rain. 53 minutes: Slow, but I was tight from baseball.
PM:

Had client meeting Thu so no biking, but played softball. 3 for 5, caught a fly, slipped in the mud several times and got a few laughs from the guys.

AM, listened to On Point's discussion of the Yellowstone bison herd's problem with bruxellosis, which if transmitted to cows requires the entire herd to be slaughtered. Gov't is moving a # of animals to Ted Turner's Montana bison operation, for quarantine and observation, for 5 years. Clean animals will be returned to Yellowstone, and Turner gets 75% of the offspring during the time as payment. Lots of contraversy about the involvement of private business, but I think it's a fine idea. The opponents think private interests needn't be involved and the Montana gov't isn't trying hard enough to find a better solution.

Sarah Silverman - On bed wetting

KMs this year: 2,172 out of a potential 3,801 KMs had I biked to work 5 days a week.

AM: Wind SE 2, 13C, no rain.
PM: Wind N 4, 12C, light rain.

Didn't bike yesterday due to rain and laziness after the 3-day weekend. Jumped on this morning to find my son left a flat rear tire after he borrowed it. Thanks a lot, dude.

Listened to Sarah Silverman's interview on NPR. I've only watched her recently cancelled show a few times, but it worked for me. Probably her most famous bit was the "I'm F***ing Matt Daymon" bit she played to then boyfriend Jimmy Kimmel on his show. And his reply with "I'm F***ing Ben Affleck" was a classic, both on You Tube.

Victoria Day

No biking--Public holiday here in Canada. I replaced a chain on the Marin Bear Valley, but found it was actually sized correctly and the problem was the lousy rear derailleur cable installation I did last weekend. Repaired that as well as the front derailleur. I'm getting the hang of bike repair now after tearing about 3 used and abused mountain bikes recently.

Canadiens lost their semi-final series to Philadelphia so no Canadian team in the Stanley Cup again. I was really hoping for a Vancouver-Montreal Stanley Cup this year! So I'll root for Philly as Chicago knocked out the Canucks here.

Fri. May 21, 2010

KMs today: 18.1
This week: 79.4

AM: Got a drive to work.
PM: Wind W12km/h. Along Marine Drive and up 31st. Listened to Bill Maher, funniest podcast available. Long talk about religion and media; BM's point is that religious beliefs taken literally cause huge irreconciliable problems between people, groups, countries and of course between the religions themselves. Guests focused on faith and how religion helps, which BM doesn't see as an issue--His focus is on the what happens when faith + ill placed literal beliefs become more important than common sense and logic.