Rona Ambrose

Hmm, so she does reply to emails. In july I wrote a letter to Rona Ambrose and I assumed there would be no reply. Apparently I was wrong. I do still have this criticism though. 2010 is a while away and it is too late to take action on the greenhouse gases.

Then again you can't blame the government. People here in Alberta leave there cars running for several minutes at a time. They're probably the same people who complain about high gas prices. The rule is 10 seconds: if you stop you car for more than ten seconds then it uses more gas than starting it.

And if you give a shit about the enviroment fill up at husky mohawk with the mid grade. It contains ethanol which burns cleaner than gas. Ethanol is also made from plant materials, the plants use Carbon dioxide and produce oxygen. When it is burnt it uses up oxygen and produces carbon dioxide. The CO2 used up to create the ethanol is equal to CO2 produces from burning it. Therefore it does not increase the amount of greenhouse gases on the earth.

rosemary and tarragon beef and potatoes

I came up with a nice dish the other day and I though I should share it with you. It's quite simple. You take a steak and cut it up into strips. Put it on a plate and cover it with a lot soy sauce. Next sprinkle a healthy amount of rosemary over it. Let it sit.

Then grab a few potatoes and slice them as thin as you can (just like potato chips). The put them in olive oil and fry them in a pan with some tarragon (fresh if possible) until close to golden brown. Next add the beef. Cook it until browned on all sides. Not to much though because you want the beef to be tender. You should have some liquid in the pan still. When everything is more or less cooked you want to add about a 1/2 cup of red wine (125 ml). Simmer for a couple more minutes and add a little corn starch to thicken the liquid into a sauce. Voila.

theobromine

I've been fishing and driking Chimarrao (yerba mate, erva mate, ka'a...) Many names it just depends on the language. Anyways I am very interested in psychoactive plants (coffee, chocolate, marijuana, san pedro, coca plants, yerba mate). I think plants have a special relationship with humans. Some people consider psychoactive plants drugs. I take offence to that. Because in my system of mental reasoning there is a distinct difference between drugs and plants. I see a plant as a plant until it has undergone chemical processes other than boiling or freezing.

An example of a plant that is no longer a plant is cocaine. The coca plant put into 14 complex chemical processes such as hydrochloric acid and kerosene baths to alter the plant into a drug.

There is an exceptional low rate of cardiovascular disease among Peruvian and Bolivian coca chewers, where as users of cocaine suffer from heart problems and run an elevated risk of heart attacks. There is absolutely no correlation between the coca plant and the drug cocaine. Read More

Well now back to yerba mate. I have never really liked coffee. When I was younger I didn't like the taste and now that I'm older and don't mind the taste I don't like the buzz. I find it is harsh, a 45 minute up followed by a sad feeling. With Yerba mate and chocolate I get a more sustained mood brightening buzz. Why? because coffee contains only caffeine whereas yerba mate and chocolate contain caffeine, theobromine and other similar chemicals. It is a boquet of alkaloids. Which is very important.

So what is the point that I am trying to drive home??? That the whole is not just a some of its parts. It is something else. Yes yerba mate, chocolate, coffee and wake-up pills all have caffeine in them but they do not produce the same buzz.

In addition yerba mate and coca leaves contains pottasium and other minerals which lower blood pressure and regular heart funtion. Stimulants only= unhealthy. Stimulants in combination with minerals and other heart regulating alkaloids= healthy.

The Illusionist

Romeo and Juliet meets The Usual Suspects. Go see it...Or I'll keep using the hand trick on you.

Gilberto Gil

I'm listening to Gilberto Gil - Electracustico right now. He is amazing, I put him on the same plane as Bob Marley and Jimi Hendrix. He has that energy which is so rare these days. He was friends with and toured with Bob Marley in the 70's and lived in England during the late 60's when he was exiled from Brazil.

I got to see him live in Rio one night and I felt as if I went back to the late sixities. In some songs people were sitting cross legged on the dance floor just fixated on the music he was making. My favourite albums of his are Unplugged, Electracustico, Live in Montreux and Kaya N'Gan Daya. The latter is mostly Bob Marley songs that he recorded in Jamiaca with Rita Marley and some of the other artists from Bob band. Few people can get away with covering Bob Marley but these are as good as the original but with a Gilberto Gil flavour.

Rockstar: Superloser

If you think Gilby Clarke was the guitar for G n' Fuckin R' then you wrong. He filled in for Izzy Stradlin on the use your illusion tour after Izzy recorded the albums and the left the band. I have to say Izzy has put out better solo albums than anyone else in the band. They're amazing actually. But I'm drifting

Bassist for Metallica, wow. Words can't explain how lame I think metallica is.

Tommy Lee, has been. He's just living off his reputation.

Dave Navarro is the only talented one in the bunch but he's not even in the band.

Let me put it this way, have you heard anything about the INXS lately?

"Hate rock" and "Teenage Rock"

And in other musical notes, I hate "Hate rock" and "Teenage Rock." Hate rock is pretty much any band that wants to be heavy, but is just shitty. Alice in Chains and Nirvana were amazing because they were heavy and melodic. Hate rock is just noise. Teenage rock on the other hand is worthless dribble for kids, the singers all where black make-up around their eyes and do that stiff neck dance. If you wondering which bands I mean here are some examples.

Hate Rock = System of a down, default, linkin park, Nickelback, Hoobastank, etc.

Teenage rock = Hedley, Franz Ferdinand, jet, etc.

It is easy to tell what kind of music is hate rock or teenage rock because they suck.

WILCO

I was living under a rock until I heard of Wilco. If you haven't heard of them your living under a rock as well. I'd say they're the most original and innovative band of the 00's. I had a chance to sit front row at thier show in Edmonton and it was amazing.

Check out these songs:
-theologians
-company in my back
-handshake drugs
-spiders kidsmoke
-late greats

making out on the high level

I was walking across the high level bridge last night and saw two people lying on top of eachother making out in the middle of the pedestrian lane. It was pretty wierd/hilarious. As I walked by I sang them the chorus to "only love can break your heart." I hope it fueled their wild passions and made their loins burn.

Mel Gibson

Hey Mel, nice work on the drunk driving. Should I still take you and your movies seriously? Oh wait I never did. hah

"I'm looking forward to his seemingly unhistorical film that makes the Mayas look like savages."

Equal Rights

I really like this song of Peter Tosh's, Equal Rights. Check it out in the music file

Time is on My Side

My take on "Time is on My side" It should just load in windows media player or some program on Apples.

Please Stop

I hope Isreal's government comes to it senses and realizes that the killing that they are doing in Lebanon is no different then the killing that took place in the Holocaust. Innocent people are being brutally murdered, not to mention the fact ancient cities are being destroyed forever. I think that the nation of Isreal has tarnished the reputation of Judaism. It is a bad idea to link government and religion. I can't think of another country in the world that is based on a single religion with no tolerance for other religious beliefs.

Burnin' Live at Leeds

I recently adquired by way of Bittorrents Bob Marley and the Wailers - Burnin' Deluxe Edition. It is ridiculously good. Disc two is a live concert in England, which by far the best live Wailers I have heard as well as the best live performance I have heard. This is the last album in which Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailers worked together. Personally I prefer Bob Marley's work prior to 1972 because it included Peter and Bunny. I'm a big fan of Peter Tosh. His voice it so unique, well same with Bob, but Peter's is something else.

I put a track from it in the music folder

Tubin'

Hot on one side, off on the other, we're cookin' with indirect heat. Oh Yeah!

World's Healthiest Foods

I just discovered this site which lists the nutrition values and cancer fighting effects of certain foods. I was eating some fresh beets from my garden and I wanted to know what kind of nutrients they had in them. Beet greens by the way are amazing! I had never eaten them before tonight and after I tasted the first one I scarfed down about 5 more.

Here's the site WORLD'S HEALTHIEST FOODS

It doesn't list Acai, Guarana, Erva Mate or Graviola, but they are relative unknown outside of Brazil. Graviola in definately my favourite, the white juice it produces is out of this world. It is said to have very high cancer fighting properites, but all I care about is that it tastes so good.

Here's a picture of a graviola.
And here's a picture of a cashew fruit which also has amazing juice. Can you see the little cashew on top?

The Good Life Blog

Here's a site I like. I stumbled across while looking for information about cloning willows. I found an amazing type of willow the other day with pink and orange leaves. It was breathtaking. I've also discovered several other types of willows and huge amound wild raspberries. There are saskatoons as well, but the berries are so high that I will need a ladder.

http://sustainable-life.co.uk/blog/2006/02/willow-propagation.html

Jamming in the Great Room

There's a room in my parents house called the Great Room, it's got a nice high ceiling and has great acoustics. Anyways, when they are out of town, we move the drums and amps in and get stoned and jam as much as we can. Here is one of our more popular jam's on mp3.

"Lime Green and Grey" is what we call it

Kris Ricci is on Drums
Curtis Paniak on Lead Guitar
and Me on Rhythm.

Curt gets a little crazy sometimes, but we let him go, just as long as he comes back.

Gst Cut in Canada

How about that Gst cut, yeay! To tell you the truth I didn't even notice it. 1% savings, thats amazing. If you spend 40,000 per year, which the average Canadian doesn't, you would save $400 a year. I wonder how much it cost to change the GST from 7% to 6%. I bet it was a lot. More than sending every Canadian a $400 cheque, that's forsure. But let's remeber who's in power. The poor get very little from this GST cut because they spend less, the rich on the other hand save much more. Stephan Harper makes Ralph Klein and his Ralph bucks, look like god.

His mistress Rona Ambrose isn't any better. She is the enviroment minister and she hasn't done anything worthwhile. Spruce Grove and Stony Plain, two cities in her home riding do not even have recycling depots. In addition, the Conseravative government is planning to make 5% ethanol mandatory in all gasoline sold in Canada by 2010. Wow, talk about a half assed attempt, Husky-Mohawk already sells a 10% blend and the Ontario gov't has already made 10% mandatory by 2010. How about making 85% ethanol availble at every gas station, or atleast a 15% blend. Rona Ambrose get serious, get educated on the issues and get off your ass and do something worthwhile.

Richard Linklater

I'm a big fan of Richard Linklater's films. They make you think and keep you captivated the whole time. I've seen Waking Life about 10 times, needless to say I own it. It goes great with a little movie enhancer.

A Scanner Darkly is coming out right away and I'm looking forward to seeing it. The animation looks even better than waking life. You can check out the official site.

If you want to see some other Linklater films check out:

Dazed and Confused
Slacker
Waking Life
Before Sunrise/Before Sunset (I haven't seen these I hear they're good)