Chris Jordan and America by the Numbers

Our out of control consumerism is displayed in a compelling way by the art and photography of Chris Jordan:

Depicts 11,000 jet trails, equal to the number of commercial flights in the US every eight hours.


Detail:


et Trails, 2007
60x96"

Universes Unknown

I've been prone to anxiety for several years now... and while reflecting on that belief today I realized a component of it, for me, is the assumption that "I know everything" and "It's gonna end badly cause there's so much badness".  And then I realize how absurd that is. How there are universes of beauty unknown to me; what a relief.

This gorgeous macro photo of a bug covered with morning dew helps me realize just how complex and fantastic our world is:

How there are enough mysteries to fill infinite lifetimes. Look at the beauty of this wet leaf: 

And how I don't need to be anxious because it's all so much bigger than me.I can be brave, just like this ladybug:

Tomato Pumpkin Bisque - Autumnal Recepies!

My friend Susan swears by this soup - we just went to the grocery store to grab the necessities and whip it up since she's suffering from a light cold. We're both recovering from bloody-mary-palooza yesterday, and it's just a nice crisp "start of autumn" day here in typically hot n sunny Los Angeles; I'm considering this soup a "welcome to fall" treat.

Susan says:

"At Thanksgiving I like to use my nutmeg grinder for fresh nutmeg on top. A dash of Crème fraîche is something that could be a nice addition although I've never tried it. Cheese works too. You need a blender or a food processor. This soup makes me feel good. Must be all the beta-carotene that makes my skin feel like it's glowing. The soup is loaded with anti-oxidants too.

3 or 4 table spoons of butter
1 large onion chopped
4 cups of chicken stock
28 ounce can of whole tomatos with their juices
1 table spoon of
maple syrup
28 ounce can of pumpkin puree
and salt to taste

1. melt better over low heat, add onion and saute slowly
2. stir in chicken stock and simmer for 15 minutes
3. pour tomatoes into blender, add the maple syrup and puree (do this in batches as not to fry your blender/processor. Also, it's best to add the maple syrup at this point otherwise it won't turn out right).
4. add the pumpkin and puree (again you will have to do this in batches)
5. strain the stock and add strained out onions to the processor
6. puree again
7. add the tomato pumpkin puree to the chicken stock and heat

I actually don't puree the pumpkin. I make sure to puree the tomatoes and onions and if I feel like it the pumpkin. Otherwise, you can just stir it in. "

We're getting ready to eat it now..... and the dang sun just came out and is heating up her LA front porch. I wish we could at least get a day of dreary Autumnal wonderfullness.

Growing Veggies Easily at Home with an Earthbox

What is the best way for me to go about growing tomato plants on my tiny aprtment balcony? It seems like getting an Earthbox might be a great start.  According to their website,  the "Patented, award-winning gradient-gardening system more than doubles the yield of a conventional garden-with half of the fertilizer and 20% of the water!"  There are rave reviews of this product all over the internet, and I like the fact that it eliminates digging and weeding.  

Earthboxes are apparently even being used on farms in large-scale agricultural settings and can drastically optimize yeild and productivity.  Another supergreen benefit is that Organic growing requires no three-year transition period;  the first crop can be certified with OMRI-approved products.

Pretty in Rice Patty

Every year since 1993 farmers in the town of Inakadate in Aoomori (Japan) create large scale Crop Art. To create the massive images they use kodaimai rice, which is purple and yellow-leafed, combined with their usual tsugaru-roman (green-leafed) variety. This year's work (pictured above) will be visible until September when the rice is harvested. More fantastic images here. :)

[via psfk]

Foxy Gardening Gloves

If you're even able afford a dwelling with a yard in LA, you definitely can afford to have someone to do the pruning and planting for you... besides, you're busy writing that next blockbuster or sashaying down a red carpet. However, if you do get the impulse to pull a few weeds you can do it in style with Foxgolves! Sooooo Cute! And they come in tons of girl-friendly colors like purple ("Iris"), blue, pink and more. They fit like an evening glove but are tough enough to tackle the weeds.

Onions in Between

Did you know that onions belong to the lilly family? World Onion production is steadily increasing so that it is now the second most important horticultural crop after tomatoes. They also have about a zillion health benefits ranging from reducing blood pressure to lowering cholesterol levels.

I've really been into Onions lately every since I stopped eating refined sugar and flour. I heard a radio newscast the other week that was talking about hostilities rising in India because the price of Onions is apparently too high. In India the onion is a basic ingredient in most cuisine, and has even been a barometer of political fortunes; Indira Gandhi successfully used the high price of onions to defeat the Janat Party in 1980. The Indian local on the radio was talking about what a delicious meal a slice of onion and bread was. I've come to agree!

I've been dicing onion and putting it in my salads, rice, cottage cheese, and eggs. It's sharp taste is a welcome spike to the sometimes monotonous sweetness of a lot of produce. Early American settlers used wild onions to treat colds, asthma and to repel insects. In Chinese medicine, onions have been used to treat angina, coughs, bacterial infections.

Today, the World Health Organization supports the use of onions for the treatment of poor appetite. Onion extracts are rich in a variety of sulfides and provide some protection against tumor growth. In central Georgia where Vidalia onions are grown, mortality rates from stomach cancer are about one-half the average level for the US. They also diminish the risk of blood clots.

Onions are easy to add to most gardens because there are varieties to suit almost every climate. They are avialable in three froms: sets, transplants, and seeds. Sets are the easiest to plant, transplants are available in more varieties, and seeds are the least expensive. They need a well-prepped bed of fertile soil with all lumps removed to a depth of 6 inches. Bulbing onions need full sun, but green onions can be grown in partial shade. Transplants or sets should be planted 1 to 2 inches deep and 2-3 inches apart. If you're planting seeds make sure they are 1/4 inch deep and 1-2 inches apart. You can grow onions between other veggies like cabbages or tomatoes if saving garden space is a priority!

2008 Presidential Election

I just read an article that reported a Washington Post/ABC News survey found a big shift to McCain among white women since he selected Sarah Palin as his running mate.

The article debates whether or not this is true, but my gut says it is. And it's because when I first saw he had selected a young attractive woman as his VP, my attention was definitely caught and I felt a surge of "girls stick together" emotion compel me to vote for McCain simply to break that glass ceiling. I imagined a woman being Vice President or President and a little wave of wonder and excitement went through me. Fortunately, I woke up from my day dream pretty quickly.

I'm frankly insulted and disgusted with his choice of Palin as a running mate on so many levels. To me, McCain and the GOP's choice made her a pink token in a political game that's more about branding than truth. She was not picked because she is qualified; having served as governor of Alaska for less than two years -- and as mayor of a small town before that -- her qualifications for potential commander in chief of the World's most powerful military fall so terrifyingly short of even the bare minimum of where they should be it is appaulling. How can GOPers championing the security of our nation even contemplate putting this political neophite in line for the second highest office in the land? Please, explain to me how you could want Sarah Palin picking up the phone in the middle of the night when there is a national security crisis at hand?

Pandora Rocks

While cleaning the apartment today I wanted to listen to music, but I'm so ill equipped at the moment... no cool set up. However I do, obviously, have a computer and the internet so I started googling for "Free Internet Radio" and found this AWESOME site:

http://www,pandora.com/

You go, enter the name of one of your favorite artists, and it creates a station based around artists like that. I put in Zero 7 and after a few secs of loading "Red Dust" by Zero 7 started playing, with Thievery Corporation up next. WHAT A KICKASS WEBSITE!

Phuket

Tonight I had some wine with a friend and watched the movie he just finished directing/shooting in Thailand. It was another labor of love on his part... and will be one of his biggest releases to date. I see him, and he is very determined to be "this". "This" is some idea he has in his head. I think he has sacrificed a lot for it. I sense tons of stubbornness and some dissatisfaction.

He asked me what has been up with me lately, and I went on a monologue of the changes I'd made these past few months.

I have put down the acting cross for now. The funny thing is, I had truly put it down months ago, but wasn't willing to mentally relinquish it for a while. When I commit to something, I do it very deeply, and I do not believe in failure really. But life was happening, and I've been changing a lot- challenging situations out here made it necessary. I'm happy about it.

I didn't want to officially retire my pursuit because I felt like it meant I was giving up. I also felt like it made me "one of those dreamers" that flies out here and burns out after a few challenges. But the reality is, it is not negative thinking that is making me stop. It was negative thinking that was making me continue.

This was not sitting well with my friend. I think it's because I was saying I didn't want to be a part of the industry he's fought tooth an nail to move up through, that I didn't want to live forever in a town he feels tied to. Maybe me making a break for it made him feel disapproval of his choices. Or maybe they just teased out his own underlying dissatisfaction.

He always talks about how he's one of the few that believe in me, but I don't feel that at all. He's never helped me in any practical way - believed in me enough to give me a chance to do something on a project that was well within my capabilities. I've felt he's just wanted to take something from me... And you know, I think he thinks he cares about me, and that maybe he loves me (not so secretly), but I've never let it go there because I'm not attracted to him, and also because I sense that it's all about him. And that to me is not caring, love, or anything close.

It's frustrating. I wish we both felt bigger, stronger, and better after our conversations. It's one of those people who I don't think I'll ever be able to honestly communicate with, we don't have the same mental or emotional tools, but it is what it is.

Phuket

Tonight I had some wine with a friend and watched the movie he just finished directing/shooting in Thailand. It was another labor of love on his part... and will be one of his biggest releases to date. I see him, and he is very determined to be "this". "This" is some idea he has in his head. I think he has sacrificed a lot for it. I sense tons of stubbornness and some dissatisfaction.

He asked me what has been up with me lately, and I went on a monologue of the changes I'd made these past few months.

I have put down the acting cross for now. The funny thing is, I had truly put it down months ago, but wasn't willing to mentally relinquish it for a while. When I commit to something, I do it very deeply, and I do not believe in failure really. But life was happening, and I've been changing a lot- challenging situations out here made it necessary. I'm happy about it.

I didn't want to officially retire my pursuit because I felt like it meant I was giving up. I also felt like it made me "one of those dreamers" that flies out here and burns out after a few challenges. But the reality is, it is not negative thinking that is making me stop. It was negative thinking that was making me continue.

This was not sitting well with my friend. I think it's because I was saying I didn't want to be a part of the industry he's fought tooth an nail to move up through, that I didn't want to live forever in a town he feels tied to. Maybe me making a break for it made him feel disapproval of his choices. Or maybe they just teased out his own underlying dissatisfaction.

He always talks about how he's one of the few that believe in me, but I don't feel that at all. He's never helped me in any practical way - believed in me enough to give me a chance to do something on a project that was well within my capabilities. I've felt he's just wanted to take something from me... And you know, I think he thinks he cares about me, and that maybe he loves me (not so secretly), but I've never let it go there because I'm not attracted to him, and also because I sense that it's all about him. And that to me is not caring, love, or anything close.

It's frustrating. I wish we both felt bigger, stronger, and better after our conversations. It's one of those people who I don't think I'll ever be able to honestly communicate with, we don't have the same mental or emotional tools, but it is what it is.