I saw this headline on the CNN site the other day:

I’m not sure how you read it, but I was instantly reminded of “The Crying Game” movie. If you’ve seen that movie, you’d understand why I felt uncomfortable that babies were playing “the crying game” with sumo wrestlers.

A couple of days ago, I was talking about Mini Homes. These are fully functional homes that are in the 100 square foot range. Well, Evelyn was going through our old trip photos and found this picture:

It was taken last summer during our first trip down to Austin. As you can see, the mini homes are often pre-built and simply trucked to their final location. Because of their tiny size, a big pickup can haul them. Pretty neat.

You can also see how dry it was last summer. They were in the middle of a really bad drought. I think that the photo was taken west of Austin, in the Dripping Springs area (on 290). Could also have been on 71, which runs north-west out of Austin. I need to check on the photos around this one to be sure. Update: I checked the other photos, and this is on 71, heading north toward Lake Buchanan. The lake is located about 65 miles northwest of Austin. There is a big state park in the area, which includes a really cool cave tour.

In my continuing discussion on subtle racism, or just general lunacy, I want to take this moment to rant about maps. “What’s wrong with maps?” you ask. “Why pick on them?” Well, here’s why.

Evelyn and I are looking for land in Texas. A decent amount of acerage (50-100) that we can homestead on. Land cheap enough to still afford, but nice enough so that we can eventually put a B&B / guest houses / hunting cabins (lots of hunting down here) on it. We’re leaning toward more acerage because (a) I hate neighbors, (b) it’s possible to get a farm grant (for example, we could raise goats, which would justify a subsidy), and (c) Evelyn can ride around on her horse shooting rattlesnakes.

So, we’ve been looking at a lot of topo maps, weather maps (high/low temps, rainfall), and so forth. Well, a lot of the cheaper land is closer to the Mexican border. This is land south of I-10, the east-west interstate that goes from San Antonio to El Paso. 

My problem is this: The second you hit the Mexican border it’s like the end of the earth. No roads listed. No topo maps. No rainfall data. Nada. It makes it look like nothing exists south of the border. It’s a huge pain in the ass, because I need to see where the mountains continue on, how many towns are near the border, and so  forth. But no luck. Take a look at a Google Map and you’ll see what I mean.

Here is the standard map, with roads and towns indicated: Eagle Pass Map
Now here is the same map, with the Satellite image: Eagle Pass With Image

On the first map you’d think that across the border is nothing by desert. But look at the Satellite image. There are towns, roads, and everything else.

This makes it really hard for us to see where the complete mountain ranges lay, where the complete desert valleys are at, and so on. I run into the same sorts of things with the state boundaries. It’s not like everything changes once you cross this artificial line, but that’s how the maps represent it.

If anyone is aware of some good topo and weather maps that cover the Texas-Mexico border area, please let me know. It will help in our search for decent land. Thanks.

We were watching Fahrenheit 451 the other day. I’m amazed at how a movie filmed in 1966 can still look so fresh and vibrant. For those who have not watched it, this movie is based on Ray Bradbury’s 1953 novel “Fahrenheit 451.” Roughly it’s about a society that has banned all written form of books, essays, papers, and such. A society depended on audio and pictures as a form of communicating and learning.

There is a scene in this movie that all of a sudden I got chills and for a moment I had flashbacks. This really frightened me. The scene takes place at the home of the main character Montag and his wife Linda. Linda is very excited when Montag arrives home from work. She quickly get dinner served and tells Montag of her great opportunity to be an actress. she is thrilled that ” Cousin ” has selected her for tonight’s play. ” Cousin ” is a regular T.V. personality that these people in this environment watch with regularity. Kinda like are today’s prime time shows such as American Idol and what not. Well as Linda and Montag watches the play unfold and at one point the actors in the program looks dead on to the television viewers and ask Linda, what should we do {blah blah blah }? Linda sitting on the living room floor is so excited and looks over to Montag as if “help me, I don’t know what to say.” Montag signals her to reply but by the time she turns to the screen the actors have taken her reply. Amazing techology!?! So, the story goes on… you’ll need to see this for yourself.

This ” Cousin ” reminded me of a show when we lived temporarily in Puerto Rico called “SUPER XCLUSIVO” with it’s main personality being a hybrid lifesize female puppet named ” La Comay” and her co-male personality Hector (not a puppet). The similarity of ” Cousin ” and ” La Comay ” is that everyone tunes in religiously. La Comay even has her own fan website. I’ve seen very little of La Comay show and from what I observed I noticed that it slightly different from ” Cousin ” La Comay uses combined format of tabloid, journalism and humor. Puertorican loves this combined format. It’s pretty entertaining and at times it brings to surface the ills of our society. In an Island were people are oppressed regularly their venue of expression has made this show a success.

Sadly to say, there are those who would like to keep people ignorant and oppressed even in this modern day.
The thought of one day our society moving in such a direction is concerning and yet there has been and will be idividuals who do whatever it takes to keep such a thing from happening.

By the way, apparently Frank Darabont who directed The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mille has planned to remake Fahrenheit 451 for release sometime either 2008 or 2009. It will be interesting to see his perceptive although I think the 1966 version is quite good.

Evelyn and I have been fascinated with “mini homes”. These are structures that give you all your basic needs, but sit in the 500 square foot range. I like mini homes for a couple of reasons:

• They prevent you from “keeping up with the Joneses”. You can’t keep buying stuff if you have nowhere to put it.
• They are sensitive to the environment: very low “footprint”.
• They promote modular design. You think about living units or areas, versus one big structure that handles all needs.
• They are much easier to take off-the-grid. Due to their limited power requirements, it’s easier to use Solar, Wind, and other sources of energy.
• They are easier to build. Due to their size, it’s much easier for owner-builders to construct, versus having to rely on professional builders.
• They cost less. Again due to their size, they cost less. Add in the ability for the owner to invest “sweat equity” and you have overall lower costs.

Plus, my dad and mom have always seemed to be interested in smaller homes (for retirement). Here are a couple of sites that Evelyn has come across:

Gregory Paul Johnson is the director of the Small House Society, and in this story he takes us on a tour of his 140 square foot home and talks about the concept of “living simply.” Video: http://wqpt.org/lifeandtimes/littlehouse.html

Another video from the New York Times by Bethany Lyttle http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/travel/20070216_TINY_FEATURE/blocker.html?th&emc=th

Interesting link has several design and stories of those who built them: http://www.tinyhousecompany.com/

This is so cool. Has pictures with stories quite fun to read and look at:
http://www.tinyhouses.net/directory.html
http://www.rosschapin.com/Plans/plans.html

I thought this design might be interesting for our modular home:
http://www.rocioromero.com/LVSeries/LV.htm

The above LV link came from this site on all types of Prefab:
http://www.fabprefab.com/fabfiles/fablisthome.htm

Hurdles that average joe encounters when building his/her home, this guy brings up some good points:
http://www.konzak.com/prohousing/ownerb.html

It looks like a number of my friends and co-workers won’t have to worry about getting Parkinson’s Disease. This in from New Scientist:

Nicotine and caffeine stimulate the production of dopamine. So, researchers theorize, people “exercise” their dopamine pathways by smoking and guzzling java–strengthening them against the onset of Parkinson’s.

You can reduce your risk by 40% by drinking coffee and 50% by smoking. Of course, you still have lung cancer and heart disease to deal with. Oh, well. I’ve seen plenty of smokers and drinkers (alcohol) who lived to their 80s, and plenty who died in their 40s. Just goes to show that it doesn’t matter what you do, you’re gonna die.  

Since I seem to be tossing out controversy this week, here’s another something I came across the other day.

I was flipping through our weekly junk ads and came across an insert from the Travis County “Air Check” department (they handle vehicle emissions). Here’s what it said:

Has your vehicle failed an emissions test? Need help paying for emissions-related repairs? Want to retire your vehicle, but need help replacing it?

Seems straightforward enough. Until I flipped it over and read the Spanish translation:

Fallo su vehiculo la prueba de emisiones del estado? Podemos Ayudar! Usted puede calificar hasta $1000 en la ayuda.

Well, you don’t have to understand Spanish to figure that’s not a direct translation. Didn’t see any mention of $1000 on the English side; and the English side talked about me “retiring” my vehicle. Here’s the Spanish to English, for real:

Did your vehicle fail the state emissions test? We can help! You can qualify for up to $1000 in help.

Honestly, I find it quite insulting. It implies that the only way to get “the mexicans” attention is to show dollar signs. Look here! Get your $1000 for the old van in the back yard! Take advantage! Maybe it’s just the way I’m reading it, but it seems to reinforce prejudice and stereotypes.

I’m interested to hear how others interprete it.

Just got this in an e-mail from Cooks Country. Looks pretty simple. I think I’ll try it sometime.

Spinach Orzo
Serves 4

 Table salt  
1 cup orzo  
4 cups baby spinach  
2 tablespoons olive oil  
1 medium clove garlic , minced 
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest  
 Ground black pepper  

1. Bring 3 quarts water to boil in large pot over high heat. Add 1 teaspoon salt and orzo and cook until al dente. Reserve 1/4 cup cooking water and drain orzo.

2. Meanwhile, place spinach, oil, garlic, and lemon zest in large serving bowl. Add drained orzo and toss to coat, adding reserved cooking water as necessary, until spinach is wilted. Adjust seasonings with salt and pepper. Serve.

This time “shots fired” at the Johnson Space Center. CNN, being journalists par excellence, posts this picture on their home page:

Look! Cop cars on the grass! Now that is Pulitzer material.

Ah, April 20th. What a day you are. Happy birthday, Hitler!

Update: “A NASA contractor took two co-workers hostage at Johnson Space Center Friday, killing one of them before turning the revolver on himself, officials said, just days after the bloodiest school shooting in US history.”

 From now on, remind me to stay home from work the last-half of April. It’s a freaking crazy time of year.

I’ve been working with a new (for me) pasta: Orzo. It’s small and looks like oversized rice. I first picked up a box so that I could make Wedding Soup (basically, a chicken soup with small meatballs). It makes a nice “noodle” for soup.

We’ve been trying to cut back on our meat portions; making up the difference with interesting side dishes. (While we both love mashed potatoes and beans and such, it gets a little old.) Here’s a quick rice-like Orzo side dish:

1. Pour about 4 tablespoons of good olive oil, or butter, in a medium non-stick frypan. Heat on medium until the oil warms up a bit (about 2 minutes).
2. Pour in about 1/2 a pound of Orzo (it comes in small 1 pound boxes, so use half a box).
3. Sir the Orzo into the oil with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula. Your goal here is to lightly brown the pasta, to give it a nutty flavor. This will take anywhere from 2 to 5 minutes, depending on the heat. If it starts getting too dark too fast, take it off the stove. You want toasted, not burnt.
4. Once the Orzo is toasted, pour in about 1 1/2 to 2 cups of chicken broth. You want a good deal in there, since the Orzo will be absorbing it (kinda like rice does).
5. Bring heat up to high and get things to a boil. Then reduce heat to low and simmer for about 10-15 minutes, or until Orzo has absorbed all of the broth AND is tender. Sometimes I notice that my Orzo has absorbed the broth, but is still a bit tough. In that case, I just add a bit more broth or water to the pan and keep cooking.
6. Toward the end of cooking, you can add some frozen peas to the Orzo. They are optional, but give it a nice color contrast. No need to defrost the peas; they will heat-up in a minute or so.

   Optional: You can add a 2-3 cloves of minced/pressed garlic into the pan after step #3. Let it heat for about 30 seconds, then continue with step #4.
   Optional: You can add a small, finely chopped, onion after step #1. Let the onion cook until soft, about 5 minutes, and then continue with step #2.

Enjoy!