Sunday, April 04, 2010

High School Poems I

I know a man with a big nose,
I'd swear it was a water hose.
He'd say it was not,
but it sure dripped a lot.
It ran all day;
Enough to fill the bay.
I told him his faucet had to be fixed.
So he gave his lip many licks.
His nose still ran with that slime.
Oh, how I hate the color lime.

Sunday, March 28, 2010

The Brave Man

There once was a brave man
Who said, "I will, I can!"
So he did go
And tried, ya'no,
But he got scared and ran.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Hetch Hetchy exposed

Here's a photo of an exposed section of a southern portion of the infamous/famous Hetch Hetchy Aquaduct as it cuts through Santa Clara, CA.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

My Beviepie

I used to sing this little ditty to Bevie (circa 1998-1999), set (roughly) to the tune of the ol' Spider-man cartoon theme song. It used to make her giggle...well, because it's pretty silly.

Beviepie, Beviepie

My-oh-my Beviepie

She's so cute

Yeah she is

She a beaut

I want to kiss

Hey hey,

There's my Beviepie

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Days of Honor (florist version)

Each sunrise is a badge
we branshish with pride.
Honor of many days
Is our grace and blessing.
We flourish, grow,
And bloom with fullness,
To gift our energies
For this day.
Becuz we are flower & sun.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

49ers Santa Clara Stadium links

My thoughts about the Santa Clara stadium for the 49er's:

-City of San Francisco have been promoting one ridiculous stadium plan after another for almost 2 decades. The 49ers finally got fed up and starting looking around other communities.

-Only 8% of session ticket holders currently at Candlestick live in San Francisco. Many more live in the Silicon Valley area. 49ers simply want to move to where the money and support is at.

-Sharing a stadium with Raiders in Oakland is nonsensical at best. Even the ridiculous Treasure Island proposal is very poorly conceived. (Yerba Buena island would have to be turned into one massive on and off ramp)

-I don't think 49er fans don't want to see their team sharing a stadium with Raiders anyway, even in Santa Clara.

Websites that have information about the proposed Santa Clara stadium for the San Francisco Bay 49ers:

Santa Clarans for Economic Progress
Santa Clara Stadium Facts

Sunday, March 07, 2010

Days of Honor (full version)

Each sunrise is our badge
That we branshish with pride.
The honor of many days
Is our grace and our blessing,
We flourish and grow
And bloom with fullness,
To gift our energies
For this day,
As though our emblem is
Both flower and sun.

49ers in Santa Clara

A measure in support of a new stadium for the 49ers in Santa Clara is going on our June ballot. There are groups against this activity. It is always easier for opposition to confuse issues in the minds of people. They are trying to do that here with rather silly points. One argument I've seen used against the stadium is that it would require more police on the day of the 49er games. Umm, of course it will. This is job creation and good for the economy!

Another thing I don't understand is the statement that projects like this shouldn't use public funds. This never made sense to me. This is America, right? Investment is the American way! If we expect to have financial gain, we should be willing to put some cash up as an investment.

The proposed stadium location is within a mile of my house (walking distance). It's near 3 freeways and right next to a mass transit station. It's going to create 2650 game day jobs and bring in an estimated $249 million dollars a year once it is built. Millions of money from taxes will be available for local programs.

If the stadium is truly state of the art, it will likely be chosen by the NFL as the sight for future Super Bowls. Just one Super Bowl in Santa Clara could bring much more money and prestige.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to just getting this dang thang built by the 2014 goal.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Silent Craft Overhead

A friend of my family once told me that he had spotted dark aircraft at night flying down along the Salinas Valley. This was a couple of decades ago. He associated his sitings with military aircraft flying to and from various military bases in California. One story he told me struck me as most memorable. One night, a silent aircraft hovered a couple hundred feet from the ground over his neighborhood. He saw the aircraft beaming down a search light pointed at various places as it quietly moved overhead his location. It couldn't have been a helicopter because he would've heard and even felt it at that distance. He associated this experience with secret U.S. military aircraft. I don't know what he saw, but given my limited knowledge about aircraft, I don't know of any now or then that could hover nearly in place without making some sort of loud noise. He took this experience as evidence that UFO sightings where spotted secret military planes.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Lie There Lame

I know you’re not a bad person,
Though opposite seemed true before.
It may seem there was no reason,
You must now know my soul you tore.

Riving sword strokes my words became.
Your shield didn’t fulfill its mission,
yet you and I both lie there lame,
A self-punishing transgression.

My sorrow is too great to hide
But something is even more true
Libraries would fill if I tried
To write words of my love for you.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Casted Braches (old version)

Night’s pale spirit dashes spiderwebbing upon earth,
Like villians cast onto silver screens,
Lying without breath; but breathing, as wind affects,
To spook our children on All Hallows’ Eve.

Creaks and cackles echo,
While creep jostles our own essence.
This comforts ghosts banned from bliss,
As they hide from Inferno’s joy.

Clamoring so, and wailing,
Lost souls seek new abodes;
Haunting our windows as light upon memories;
Whisking about, agitated, frustrated…
then night wanes.

Apollo rides out to sweep away specters and their weeps,
And cast spiderwebs of His own...
Comfort brought to little ones as they arise,
Oblivious to the crypts under tread.

Friday, February 12, 2010

Toyota "They did not have any respect for our laws."

I've long been suspicious of Toyota as a company. Of course, I don't trust any corporation. However, foreign companies whose lies result in the death of Americans leave a particularly bad taste in my mouth. Recent comments by a former Toyota top attorney, Dimitri Biller, really brings the point home. Biller and Toyota are now suing each other. Why is Toyota suing Biller? Because he decided break his silence, the very same silence that they apparently thought they purchased from him for $3.9 million in 2007.

Biller has stated, "you have to understand that Toyota in Japan does not have any respect for our legal system." He also stated, "they did not have any respect for our laws," and that "[Toyota had] a culture of hypocrisy and deception." If this doesn't scare people, I don't know what will.

In a ridiculous effort to discredit Biller, Toyota claimed that Biller was a disgruntled former employee who is angry he lost his job. Yeah, I'd be pissed if my company paid me $3.9 million too. Toyota also claimed that Biller did not handle acceleration cases while he worked there. Biller disputed that statement, noting that he worked as the managing attorney for Toyota on a sudden acceleration Lexus case in 2005.

Sunday, February 07, 2010

Purple Elephants

I had questions enter my mind,
Purple Elephants serve what purpose?
Can they lift a lot of lumber for building?
Do they trumpet loudly, scaring monsters away?

Well, yes they can do all of that,
But so much more too!

They can clear a path through the jungle
For you to romp and play upon.
When you ride on their backs,
You can go to lands far off.

They can hold you in their fuzzy trunks;
And you can hug them and snuggle all day.
That trunk of theirs can shower you when it’s hot,
And warm you when you are chilly.

You can play hide-and-go-seek with them,
And I bet you’ll always win.
They are loyal, faithful and ready to protect.
They can even fly high to lift your spirits,
But you’re not supposed to know. Shhh

But the best thing those Purple Elephants are good for
You can love them a lot, and they will love you more.

Friday, February 05, 2010

Avatar now highest grossing movie ever? No.

I got a chance to meet James Cameron this week. I told him I liked Dark Angel, while I was having my photo taken with him. There, you can see me saying out of the corner of my mouth.

I do love Avatar. I've seen it once in AMC's fake IMAX theater in 3D. I want to see it again soon. This week, it has become the highest grossing film of all time in terms of actual dollars. However, it is not even close to being the highest inflation adjusted grossing film of all time. Right now, Avatar is #21 and Titanic is #6. Adjusted for inflation, the highest grossing film of all time is actually Gone with the Wind currently at over $1.5 billion, followed by Star Wars at $1.3 billion in today's money. These numbers are well over double Avatar's earnings of $603 million.

Though it doesn't benefit me at all, I am rooting for Avatar to approach those numbers. If Cameron can keep the magic of this new franchise alive, the rumors are that this movie is the first of a trilogy. My hope for any sequels is to not allow familiarity with the characters to interfere with making two more great films. Star Wars balanced this fairly well with its first sequel, Empire Strikes Back, but lost much of its magic since. Here's to the hope of continued high quality entertainment from James Cameron!

Tuesday, February 02, 2010

Tuesday Two: Anti-gravity Battery paper


Tuesday Two


Ink on paper
There's something crazy about Professor Yi Cui and his research team at Stanford University. No, it's not their lab coats. They are using a nanotechnology to develop an ink to make paper batteries that you may fold into an origami crane, crumple into a ball or simply lie flat on a toilet seat.

G-Trainer
The Alter-G G-Trainer is called the anti-gravity treadmill. To me, it's g-rated ("g" as in "great") for giving patients a new lighter than air physical therapy tool that uses goal-directed action to get them back on their feet sooner. It's been successfully employed at military hospitals for orthopedic and neurological uses.

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Epoch-Fail


Again another Epoch-Fail award goes to Toyota for continued unresolved problems with their accelators. This is a PR nightmare that they just don't seem to know how to handle. So far, in my opinion, they have taken the approach of burying their head in the sand and pretending nothing is going on. That is already costing them dearly. I would use the metaphor of a "train wreck", except that is somewhat literal in this case. The disaster isn't over. More recalls might be likely as Toyota is forced to deal with issues beyond the current scope. Here's one example of problems not being addressed on CBS 5 San Francisco.