Not everybody likes Starbucks

I saw this slightly altered billboard on my say to San Francisco yesterday morning. I felt compelled to pull over and take a picture...

Those Wacky Finns #6

Did you know that Finland, home of the world's weirdest sporting events, also hosts The Annual Air Guitar World Championship contest? Yes, this contest is a big deal in the town of Oulu, Finland. Contestants come from all over the world to participate.

The Annual Air Guitar World Championship Contest was first held in 1996 as part of the Oulu Music Video Festival. Participants from all over the world competed in skills of playing air guitar. The ideology behind the event was that "wars would end and all the bad things would go away if everyone just played air guitar". The once so absurd idea has bloomed into an international media event that attracts a wide international league of contestants, audience and media representatives to Oulu, Finland.

In 2002 a couple of Americans heard about the contest. David “C-Diddy" Jung (whose costume includes a Hello Kitty backpack used as a breastplate) and Dan “Bjorn Turoque" Crane discovered that there had never been an entry from the U.S. to compete in this prestigious event. They set out to change this shameful fact and made a documentary film of their efforts.

The film, Air Guitar Nation was released a couple of months ago and is making the rounds, but not in a theatre near me. I'll have to keep my eyes open for the film, here's the trailer. C-Diddy, who competed in the contest, is a master of this performance art, check him out here.

Passport Problems - Help from our congressman and a guy named Chris

If you are having problems getting your passport processed contact your congressperson NOW! They want to help you.

My sister and her boyfriend applied for their passport renewals approximately twelve weeks ago. At that time they were assured that they would receive their new passports within the 10-week timeframe quoted on the National Passport Information Center. Two weeks ago they began to get nervous, especially when our friend Synthia told us it took her 13 weeks to receive her passport. Sister Sonja and Erik have plane tickets to France this coming Monday and they could feel the Acme anvil hanging over their heads.

Sis called the National Passport Agency in San Francisco FOUR times and was given bogus info each time. Finally in desperation they decided to go up there in person to have their passports processed. "You can't come up without an appointment." "Then we would like an appointment." "There aren't any appointments available now or in the foreseeable future." This news was in direct conflict with what she was told and what she read on their website.

Sis googled "passport problems help" and read a number of blogs discussing this issue. It seemed that the most effective way to expedite one's passport was to contact one's congressperson. On Wednesday sis contacted her congressman, Mike Honda, and spoke to a guy named Chris (in the Campbell district office I believe). Chris listened to her story and promised to do what he could to help out.

Today their passports were delivered via FedEx. She logged onto the National Passport website and the update indicated that their passports left yesterday, July 12th, and that they paid a premium for expedited delivery. Sis paid no premium so that means Mike Honda's office paid it.

She discovered that many congresspeople address this passport problem on the home pages of their websites.

Sis wants to thank Mike Honda and the guy named Chris who saved their trip to France by getting them their passports in 48 hours. She also wants to thank all those folks who blogged about this screwed up situation so that she could figure out how to solve her problem.

With so much fighting going on about people who want to get into the country, we didn't realize how hard it is to get out.

In Bad Taste

I heard the funniest interview today on NPR's Fresh Air. Dave Davies was interviewing a teacher/scientist named Massimo Marcone, whom Davies described as the Indiana Jones of the food world. Marcone says he is more like Mr. Magoo. Nevertheless he has spent the past few years traveling the globe, dodging disease and danger, to collect and taste food that people of different cultures consider to be delicacies.

In his Mr. Magoo voice he described some of the more interesting (i.e. disgusting) foods that he has come across:

Kopi luwak coffee beans scavenged from piles of poop dropped by civets. Marcone said this coffee, which sells for $600 a pound, is notorious for being cut with regular coffee and sold for a high price.

Marcone with a prized bird nest and coffee bean poop:

Argan oil from the kernel of a fruit eaten by goats. In Morocco, argan "nuts" are collected from excrement, roasted and pressed to extract a golden-red oil. Almost as bizarre: the fact that it all starts with goats climbing trees. One of my favorite gourmet websites sells it for $26.50 for 250 ml. They never mention in the description that it's shat from goats. Rather, they say it is collected by Moroccan women. Marcone claims that since deadly scorpions hide in the dung a number of collectors (women) die each year.

Escamoles, the eggs of red ants, are called Mexican caviar. This is a hugely popular delicacy and is served by the best restaurants when in season.

King Scorpions - tastes like crab not chicken.

Italy's Casu Frazigu takes the concept of smelly cheese to new heights (or depths). When it's cut, thousands of maggots crawl out. The mess is smeared on flatbread and washed down with red wine. On his way to taste some, Marcone could smell it as he approached the door and heard the clicking of maggots against the cheese container six metres away. He said it was quite good.

Casu Frazigu after being mellowed and tenderized by millions of tiny maggots:

He probably described more yucky food but these are the only ones I heard him discuss. He wrote a book about his adventures and findings called "In Bad Taste." He claims his book is a study of why foods become delicacies. Ultimately, it is the story behind the food, rather than the food itself, that people find irresistable.

Wow, that story really grossed me out. I think I'll go comfort myself with a bowl of dried and processed seed heads soaked in the bodily fluid of cows and topped by bee vomit.

July 4 2007 - We had a flag but no pole

What to do with a single-side-band antenna when the boat's not using it:




Put a flag on it! I hope everybody had a great Independence Day!!