What Caught My Eye Today

Wildfires - An early season wildfire slowly chewed its way through dense brush near Los Angeles forcing more than 1,000 people from homes in the foothills. On the off chance that you were curious, the fire season's official start is usually June 1. The fire was first reported yesterday afternoon in a wooded area a few miles northeast of Pasadena. It was windy at the time and unseasonably hot, with temperatures approaching 100 degrees. About 400 firefighters were assigned to the fire, which was about 5 percent contained early this morning. Water-dropping airplanes and helicopters were also fighting the blaze. Late last year, strong winds, high temperatures and parched brush after a record drought were blamed for spreading a series of blazes from Santa Barbara to the Mexican border that destroyed thousands of buildings and drove hundreds of thousands of Californians from their homes. I'm guessing this doesn't bode well for the upcoming summer season. Still, I suppose if you are looking for a silver lining in all this, I bet the seasonal employment opportunities for the fire service are going to skyrocket.

Olympic Torch - Yup, the relay is continuing its whirlwind tour. Protests and scuffles greeted the Olympic flame as it began a two-day journey on the divided Korean peninsula along a route guarded by thousands of riot policeman wielding shields and truncheons. The torch relay in South Korea began at a park used for the 1988 Seoul Olympics and followed a 22-km (14-mile) route kept secret until the last minute. The global torch relay ahead of the Beijing Games in August has prompted protests against China's human rights record in Tibet as well as patriotic rallies by Chinese who criticize the West for vilifying Beijing. The flame is meant to transmit a message of peace and friendship but in Seoul protesters used it as an opportunity to urge Beijing to better protect what rights groups estimate are the hundreds of thousands of North Koreans who have fled to China, escaping poverty at home. Yeah, I don't see that message of peace and friendship making the sort of impression that the torch relay organizers were probably hoping for. The torch is expected to arrive with its attendants by airplane in North Korea, then goes to Vietnam and Hong Kong. The isolated North, which rarely holds international events, has promised China it will stage an "amazing" relay. When North Korea hosts an honored state visitor, it sends hundreds of thousands of its citizens into the streets of Pyongyang. Dressed in their finest clothes, they wave bouquets of pink and purple plastic flowers and cheer on cue when the guest passes by. In defense of North Korea, you can't really accuse them of staging a 'false front' for the Olympic torch. They pretty much do this song and dance every time the international community looks in on them.

Fred's Note: These last few items are just the ticket for that awkward moment at the dinner table, when you have run out of polite things to say to your dinner guests, and they don't know enough to engage in an intelligent conversation on current events.

Pennies - Soaring copper prices are pinching the U.S. Mint. It now costs 1.3 cents to make a penny and 7.7 cents to make a nickel. Kind of funny when you think about it.There is an environment cost too--namely, copper mining and refining that involves huge amounts of power and water. Coinstar, the company whose coin counting machines convert change into greenbacks or credit at supermarkets, estimates there are some 150 billion coins going unused in the United States: $10 billion , or $90 per household. If Americans cashed in just 10% of these coins, the U.S. would save 3.28 billion gallons of water, the energy equivalent of 4.1 million light bulbs, can reduce carbon emission by the equivalent of removing 12,619 cars from roads. all that waste for a coin that doesn't do much of anything but take up space in the cookie jar. That being said, I don't see the penny (or the nickel for that matter) going the way of the dodo bird anytime in the foreseeable future.

Gasoline - The time it takes the average worker to earn enough to buy a gallon of gasoline is rising. In 1998, it took that average hourly production worker (non-farm) about 5 minutes of work to purchase a gallon of gasoline. In 2008, it takes just over 11 minutes. Just what the doctor order, huh? Another fun-filled factoid showing just how freaking expensive gas is.

Now if you haven't dazzled your guests with those two tidbits, perhaps you can bore them into leaving with this last item. I'm not saying that it isn't important, just a bit dull--as many important things tend to be.

Jet Stream - The jet stream, a shifting river of high-speed wind that determines much of the weather in the United States is slowly shifting northward, making the South and the Southwest hotter and drier while bringing more extreme storms to the Northeast. I would think that this would be good news. Honestly, who really believes that Phoenix in July isn't warm enough or that the nor'easters that batter the Northeast aren't strong enough? I say, bring it on. Climatologists have found that the jet stream has been moving northward at a rate of 1.25 miles a year, perhaps because of global warming. Of course. While they're at it, maybe they could blame the rest of humanity's problems on global warming as well. The jet stream drives storm systems and colder air across the country; when it moves away from a region, high pressure and clear, sunny weather tend to dominate.

And if your guests still don't get the hint, I find that a well-time flatulence works wonders when it comes to clearing the room.