Kate and Neil’s Awesome Website

Sunday evening I went for a walk down Provo’s historic downtown and found this gem of a statue; mother lifting child lifting energy drink bottle cap. Provo’s downtown is a disaster. Nearly 1/2 a million people live in Provo/Orem area, more than enough to support a historic downtown and all the locally owned business it entails. Or you might think the 100,000+ visiting students attending BYU, UVSC, and the hundreds of nursing and cosmetology schools would go out of their way to support a lively downtown area. Yet, downtown Provo looks more like downtown Baghdad, with nearly 1/3 of the old building and stores crumbling with decay and abandonment. There are more for sale/for lease signs than store front signs.

The sad part is downtown Provo has so much potential. It is such a fun, open, easily maneuvering (not for cars) street that it would make a perfect place to live, play, and work. Unfortunately business don’t do well.

I am not sure what restrictions are placed on the buildings, but with a little creativity downtown could be a productive business and living area. So in order to save downtown I propose we create a website called wikiprovo.org which will allow people to create a virtual downtown following the 10 principles of new urbanism. If all goes according to plan then Provo will have a great source of ideas how to fix downtown, and all us living here will have a great place to shop and live. Let me know what you think.

I have been working on this master blog exploring the depths of grams per calories in different foods, but it’s taking too long, as I have to find the ratios of all the foods, then analyze my results, that I won’t be able to blog about it today. So instead, inspired by Jason’s tale of a creature encounter, I have decided to share my own epic about my cheek, a virus, and mining truck of pain.

So it was Tuesday night and Kate ’s tummy was a grumbling. A brief glance through our nearly bare cupboards revealed a sorry collection of squid-ink pasta, canned garbanzo beans, and a dusty box of organic butternut squash soup. Actually butternut squash soup doesn’t really give it justice, it was more like butternut baby spit-up. Maybe Kate is baby crazy, or squid-ink pasta isn’t edible, regardless Kate chose the squash water. I popped the plastic top, pealed away the foil covering, had my body possessed by a demon, and then stuck out my tung to lick the foil seal and felt the small foil tap cleanly cut through my tong, opening a fountain of blood. Not so bad you would think, just another tounge gash-mouths heal fast. No sooner had the gash stopped bleeding, I start to feel a tingling sensation erupt from my upper lip.

Just before bed a painful lump began to grow on the inside of my cheek (please see illustration). Before long it was the size of Rhode Island growing its way up to Texas. Fortunately the pustule had formed on my upper lip so when it was finally reached its maximum hight, two feet taller than the Eiffel Tower, the painful tip rested neatly on my teeth. Any facial movement brought on so much pain I usually ended up floor bound in fetal positions begging for death. Any time the pustular would move across my teeth, white pain shot through my body. Also fortunately for me, Kate likes to grab my face and cheeks and shake them. So you can imagine how fun this last week has been.

After much research I conclude it was not a pustule or boil, but the largest canker sore ever seen. Its been a week and the canker sore has been downgraded to yellow. The pain has ended and I have survived with little more than a superficial scar.

With a handful of Gap returnables (totaling $8), Kate and I skirted through the University Mall trying our best to avoid the throngs of mall-rats, baby toting ‘burbite moms, and arm swinging geriatrics. Through Dillard’s, past Victoria’s Secret, a port side turn at American Eagle, one or two dodges, a jump, a deep breath, and feewf…hello Gap. While Kate returned her armful for a meager eight, I rummaged the merchandise, stumbling upon a table of Product Red.

Product Red. Buy a service or product registered with Product Red and portion of the profits will be spent buying AIDS victims in Africa life prolonging medicines. Product Red has that omnipresent cooperate feel: Red credit cards, Red shirts, Red cellphones, Red pants, Red iPods, Red underwear, Red shoes, and even Red candles. The more Red you buy the more AIDS money you send to Africa. Great idea right!

Now don’t get me wrong I think finding a cure for AIDS is a great idea, I fully support it, would even financially support it if I had the means, but come on…Product Red! I am sure all those involved in the operation are bleeding hearts and have nothing but Africans’ well fair in mind, but just think how much more money they make on the side. Sure they are giving a percentage and I am sure a lot of good will come to those Africans in need, but just think how much more these cooperations are slanted to make. If they give lets say 8% of the profits to Africa, they are still keeping 92% of the profits for themselves. So after every CEO, store manager, worker, cotton farmers, and leather herders has been paid, 8% of the profit is given to African AIDS victims and the remaining 92% is used to buy nice things for the rich. So what is the big deal? Who’s to say these cooperations participating in Product Red aren’t just using the idea to increase their sales and make themselves more money. Nothing like an incurable epidemic in Africa to boost sales and profits.

If cooperation’s were so invested in helping these AIDS patients in Africa why don’t they give 50 or 80% of their profit (remember everyone involved as been paid to this point) to buying the much needed AIDS drugs? And why can’t consumers, investors, and the cooperate world learn to give without getting a t-shirt, watch, or candle in return?

Just in passing, Gap was selling a Red shirt made in Lesotho, Africa from African grown cotton…this probable bing the Product Red’s greatest contribution to African welfare.

With intentions to make a SD (Saturday Documentary) Jason and I ended up in Utah’s upcoming eco-community, Daybreak. While I am the first to say I was disappointed we failed to complete the documentary, our visit to Daybreak was rather refreshing. Up to know housing communities (suburbs) in the US have been, well how to we say, archaic, mundane, definitely non-feng shui, and has an eco footprint the size of Texas. With a rather astonishing leap forward (especially for Utah), Daybreak is a sustainable community based on the 10 principles of new urbanism for both the environment and its paying residents. The property is built around a man made lake fed from purified water from Utah Lake and used for storage for community wide snow and rain water collection, a collection system which captured 100% or rain fall up to a 100 year storm. This collected water is purified through natural processes in the ground, stored, then used for irrigation and recreation.

All buildings in the community are Energy Star rated (government body which certifies energy efficient electronics & building materials). Each house has super efficient window which help keep the house warm in the winter and cold in the summer. Traditional insulation has been replaced with ground newspaper, which, according to the info guy, is more efficient and fireproof than fiberglass insulation and is a smart way to use up old newspapers. In addition, the house have smaller footprint and yards; since the community provides an unprecedented number of parks, recreations areas (a lake), trails, and community centers, there is no need for excessive houses and yard size (see a map of Daybreak).

Anyway it is really cool for a suburb and I recommend checking it out.

In no way disappointing, “Freakonomics,” by Steven Levitt and Steven Dubner unravels social mysteries like tinfoil from the heart shaped chocolate Kate gave to me after church. Steven Levitt, a daring economics (if there is such a thing), demonstrates the power of economics and statistical data analysis to answer interesting social questions. For example Levitt suggests the 1990 U.S. crime drop was due to the legalization of abortion in 1973 with Roe v. Wade. Throughout the book he places, what most consider cultural truths, on trial: spanking, reading to children, socioeconomic status of drug dealers, the power of names, and how to get good test scores. His book is witty, fun to read, and actually makes economics and statistics seem, if not interesting, fun. I would recommend this book to everyone with an open mind and anyone in need of a paradigm shift.

Jimmy Carter, what a man. In his newest book, “Palestine: Peace not Apartheid,” Carter suggest the only sure way to peace is not a separate Palestinian state, but the creation of a nation that includes all races and religions. As Israel’s philosophy is to take as much away from anyone non Jewish as possible, any time there is a laps in US pressure or attention, it’s unlikely a Palestinian state would mean much as most of their cities would be surrounded by walls, their holy sites confiscated, mass poverty, and an inability for economic growth. A Palestinian state would cause continued poverty, political frustration and, I know we hear it too much, a breeding ground for anti-Israel individuals. The only hope is to create a state which includes all religions, races and people who have equal political say. Opening boarders, falling walls, extending votes and sharing resources and jobs is the only way for Israel to secure peace.

The U.S. might do some of the same as well. If we reduce our consumption then share our excesses, technologies and politics with others we will do more to bring peace and security to our nation than all the weapons, strategic planning and torture chambers in the world.

The book is really interesting. A recommendation for anyone interested in global politics, the Middle East or US foreign policy. Carter’s book does an excellent job explaining the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and has interesting suggestions for peace.

Saturday afternoon Kate and I, after running my stool sample to the Central Utah Clinic only to find it closed, met family members at BYU’s fine art’s building for the matinée of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s ‘Oklahoma!‘ Having been warned by my brother, Jesse, “it’s alright, but really really long. And a lot of random dancing scenes,” I took my seat, took a deep breath and gritted my teeth.

4 brutal hours, it finally ended.

The play was lengthy, dull, and expensive. I’m not sure anyone in my group enjoyed it, and it was all we could do to keep half of them from leaving during the break. Beside finding the play a little slow and archaic, one of the play’s main messages stood out to me as being deeply important for America’s current state of affairs. Jud Fry, the play’s villain, is the proud owner of an extensive pornography collection. He is a cankered individual who is fascinated with Laurey Williams, the heroin, and thinks of nothing but having her even if forced. Towards the end of the play he hints to Laurey he is going to take advantage of her. Of course when offered tempting phonographic images, the hero, Curly McLain, turns it down.

While many of you might not agree, I strong feel pornography play a major role in fostering sexual crimes. Without a doubt most child abusers and many criminals have had lengthy excursions with porn. A recent documentary, ‘Traffic Control, the Movie,’ discuss current societal pornography problems through interview with ex. porn star, producers, physiologists, and addicts (I have only seen snippets of the documentary planning on watching it tomorrow). I believe having continued uncontrolled accesses to pornography for anyone any age, is having dire consequences to our society at large. It seems there is an escalating number of arrests each week relating to strange sexual offenses, and most of them mention pornography.

I am not sure what should be done, but something must be done.

While resonating with truth and insight into current American politics, John Perkins’ novel, “Confessions of an Economic Hit Man,” reads as if straight from the tabloid rack. While internet research found little to disprove the contents of his book, many suggested his accusations and descriptions were exaggerated. In essence John Perkins claims to have been an economist working for a large consulting firm, Chas. T. Main, under contract from the government to try and seduce countries into taking loans from the World Bank or USAID to purchase expensive infrastructural improvements (damns, telecommunications systems, oil refineries). Perkins’ job was to exaggerate the projects statistics, falsely demonstrating that investment into the proposed project would reap outstanding benefits for the country. When the country could no longer repay their loans because projects failed to reach their advertised potential, the country then became a lackey to the American government. Thus being forced to allow the US to pillage their resources (mostly oil), use their vote, allow military bases to be built, and open their markets for US goods.

Throughout his book he references personal involvement in the schemes, sites cooperate manipulation, and indites high powered government officials. His examples are pointed, breath taking, and heart breaking. If even 70% true, his novel contains gobs of insider information into the corruption and marriage of government and cooperation. Perkins’ book, in addition to the insight into American international involvement, also brings new light on current political situations. In almost every chapter he references current day events, corporations, and political leaders. While at times I had difficulty telling fact from fiction, the book is worth a read…even if you just listen to the book on tape. Even if you’re not convinced, at least it will raise an eyebrow.