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IT'S NOT ALL THAT EASY TO KEEP UP ON A BLOGGING

You may wonder about the chaotic appearance of some of my blog work. Here's why;.. Sometimes I type out my thoughts at a coffee shop on my Mini-pad. This is on a word format. However, some of my writing is on my office computer, which has WordPerfect or Word, depending on which one I use. Then I upload all to my Word, as that's where I can easily change any troops. When I'm ready, I send it all to my Blogspot, where I can at at last insert any photos for the blog. Now, between all these programs, I am at a complete lost to get them a all together, ergo, you may fine some problems and all. I am not a computer nerd when it comes to all this, so please bear with me, as there are about 112 blogs out there 9 (SINCE 2006) I have written in my archives, which are all available , by the way. On the right side of my Blog.

GREAT CONTEMPORARY ENGINEERS

Probably only Architects will know most of these names, but all thru my life as an architect, I have revered these truly creative people and the way they have inter acted with the best creative minds of their time has been an immense influence on me. The following have been my heroes & role model's since I first became interested in building.

Here are some of my favorites who are probably un-known to most of the current generation of designers;

1850's ,William LeBaron Jenny : Before my time but known for his advancements in Iron construction of multi-story buildings in Chicago, that was being rebuilt after the great fire.

Felix Candela

Late-1900's Felix Candella -a designer in Mexico was one of the first to experient with thin shell concrete structures. These got my attention during my college days.

Pier Nervi -  Italy

1930's. Prior to the first Great War, Pier Nervi of Italy was next to set forth The newest thought on thin shells. His giant aircraft hangers and Stadium designs brought the latest thought on prefabricated forms and large spans with concrete.

1960+ T.Y. Lin an American, excelled at seismic problems. He was active in California due to it being the center of Seismic activity and advanced the science of prefabricated concrete long span beams not (Note his 'T' beams).

1960's - Fazlur Kahn, Always connected with High rise construction, Kahn devised the concept of 'Bundled Tube' structures for the Iconic Sears Tower in Chicago, an early contender for the tallest building . He is currently involved with most of the high buildings being designed today.

1970's? Ove Arup,- was Somehow involved with the the loser Architect like Jorn Utson, Achitect of the Sydney Opera house ( I seem to be a minority on this opinion), Arup managed to figure out how to engineer the weird shell structures of Utson, who had no imagination nor clue how engineer it, let alone build it. The budget overage made Calatrava look like an amateur.

1880's? John Roebling - of the Bridge, had already built a long span suspension bridge before taking on the Brooklyn Bridge. Fortunately his son and wife were experienced enough to finish the project when John died from an accident on the bridge.

1880's Gustav Eiffel - first of all , his railroad bridge in France, Then his Tower, And recently, the Milleau Viaduct, Eifels' steel company was the steel contractor for for it's construction.

How would you like to live in this place for a season?

1800's We mustn't forget the The Lighthouse Stevensons, who exercised their ingenuity building the most difficult site on Earth in the most inhabitable places in the North on sites that were underwater about half the time. Their grandson, Robert Lewis had no desire to follow in their crazy foot-steps and luckily became a writer.

1940? FLLWright Had a soaring imagination and luckily had Wes Peters by his side to help

manifest some of these ideas. Just look at 'Falling Waters' house and you'll know

Detail of Firth of Forth

1890's? Firth of Forth, about the same time, the rail bridge was blown down across The Firth and when it was re-built, just looking at it would hold it up forever, notwithstanding the horrid winds the can level anything in their way. The engineers, Benjamin. Baker & John Fowler, using ancient Japanese concept, cobbled together a giant structure that coined the phrase, "takes as long as painting the Firth of Forth Bridge".

1781? By the fact that the British were even considering these projects tells a lot about them. Severen Bridge? Before Engineers, we had "Iron Mad " people who had to invent a new type of bridge.

1964. The Japanese Kenzo Tange, Architect had enough imagination to provide the Olympic folks with a structure with a suspended roof that would be memorable.

Ponr de Normandie

1960? I.M. Pie.After designing the Washing D.C. Museums, excelled himself with the Sharp - edge. 1980? Louvre in Paris, that probably wouldn't have Been built unless the Pompidoux center had been completed. (Too Modern).There are no vast structural concepts here but the nuances of structure in an environment so hostile to innovation could only be accomplished in France.

Milleau Viaduct

1995 The Engineer who designed the early stayed-cable bride "Le Pont du Normandie" in LaHavre, France, Michel Virlogeux, was also the engineer on the magnificent Milleau Viaduct in central France a short while ago in 2005. The concept of how to accomplish innovative and magnificent structures is a text-book example of this viaduct. Maybe it can only be done in a. Socialist government, but here is how it works; The government sets some basic performance standards, (Like $30,000 a day if you get behind schedule). then asks bidders to submit their concept, costs, financing and the winner will get the contract, own it and collect revenue for the next 70 years. Then turn it over to the government, and let the citizens enjoy the fruits od their labosr along with the best designers in the world.

AB URBE CONDITA ("from the founding of Rome")

This has to do with how we date our progress
 (or mostly regress)

With so many defectors from the Catholic Religion, We should also look at our money that refers to God as well as our standard speeches by our government officials that have to make a reference to the big 'G' in all in important speeches. There used to be something in there about separation of Church and State, wasn't there?

Upside down Vines

THE GRAPE HARVEST IS IN (Apples Too).

As well as the apples around here but I have to show you how our growers are trying get to double their harvest by teaching the vines how to grow upside down. In theory, that should double your harvest and only in The USA would anyone even try it it. I have shown you a foto of a normal vine from Chateau d' Neouf'd Pape, (New house of the Pope). where the best wine is grown in a layer of stones.

This is a vine concept only an American could come up with as it is such a demarcation from standard vine management, one wonders how it was even set up to try. Will all vines in California be grown like this in the near future? Well, I probably won't be around to see it and that works for me.

TO DIE FOR

   My daughter just gave me which is kind of a primer on dying. As we get older and approach the edge of the Abyss our study options seem get more limited.  SENECA by James Roman is a must have , though small, on your bookshelves.  How to Die gathers in one volume, for the first time, Seneca’s meditations on death and dying. The book reveals a provocative thinker who speaks with a frankness about the need to accept death or even, under certain conditions, to seek it out.  We should remember he lived during the reigns of Nero and Caligua, who condemned a plethora of folks to death but they had to do the job themselves. After reading the book, I realized how different our view is of death due to the dogma of our Christian religions, and really, we Americans (USA) consider it a Sin or a Major crime to do ourselves in or even assist another to end it all. Seneca really practiced what he preached as he ‘Executed ‘ himself, which is described nicely by  Tacitus ,in  a later chapter of the book.  This harks  back to the death of Socrates, some three hundred years earlier in Athens.

  

HOW ABOUT CHANGING THE NAME OF OUR   SECRETARY OF DEFENSE TO SECRETARY OF OFFENSE?

I WOULD LIKE TO SEE OUR POLITICIANS TO WEAR SUITS THAT ADVERTISED THEIR “DONORS”, JUST LIKE THE RACE CAR DRIVERS, WHO NEED SUPPORT FROM THE COMMERCIAL SECTOR. While we’re at it, lets ‘ just vote directly for the lobbyists, and bypass the middle man (your politician).

WEST COAST JAZZ

During the 60’s the Jazz Scene in Los Angeles was very active. There must have been 20 or 30 Small Cubs in L.A. and environs for us affectionados to hang out around and pick up on the latest vibes.  One could stop in for a drink or two , sometimes a $5 or $10 cover charge at a place like Shelleys’ Man-Hole (Shelly Mann) or some narrow venue much like the current Club Alto in Amsterdam, and pick up on the latest cool vibes. Sunday early afternoons offered “The Lighthouse”  in Hermosa Beach, where the coolest cats hung out to jam a bit. This was our 'Church'. 

ESCAPE FROM PARADISE     Does this phrase sound strange? A lot of people are doing just that.  You'll take your problems with you.

 

 

 

 

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Let’s TRY THE TRICKLE DOWN APPROACH

The media is making noise again about how the mini house will save the day and eliminate the homeless folks. They even went so far as to show a rendering of several such tiny house on a large lot on a nice flat area. Someone doesn't understand the process of any kind of housing as the site cost and lot can be even more than the cost of the little house.  Think about it, a tiny house for one person will pay the same amount for the sewer hook-ups and rates as a large family in a large house. Not my idea).This may sound like some Socialistic concept but let’s face facts. In a Communist regime, the government would own it. ; What would you call our Social Security system? Our Medicare System?  Susidized housing? Food Stamps?, Schools?  Etc.  The same thing goes for the rest of the utilities to a lesser degree (Power, Water, Gas, Cable, etc.). Someone better add in the costs of the streets, storm drains, sidewalks,water & sewer. etc. as you don't think the authorities will be able to just put in dirt roads do you? How about the cost of the actual land? Someone owns it at first , don’t they?

     Maybe we should approach the problem from a different direction, like from the earning capacity of an individual.  Let’s see how far $15 an hour gets us.

 $15x 10days = 150 a day x 6 days = 900 A WEEK.  

X 4= 3600 a month,

 X 12= $43,200 A YEAR.

   That would be OK if no taxes were taken out & no Health ins. and   Day care was free.      Consider 1/3rd of that($1200/Month) for rent .

Maya Codex

BOOK REVIEW

MAYA by Diego de Landa  Account of the Affairs of Yucatan in the mid-1500’s. (Warning;  This padre is a poor writer and is very boring! But it’s all pretty interesting.)

                Translation by A. R. Pagden in 1976

Diego de Landa, The Catholic missionary who served in Yucatan in the 1500’s was largely responsible for the destruction of most of the breakable or flammable Maya artifacts, but at the same time, he wrote about the culture of the original Mexicans, which gives us a are view of the every  day life of the people and their practices while at the same time he describes the terrible treatment by the Spaniards trying to overlay their religion on a culture they considered inferior to theirs.  You can actually get a grasp of their Codex, kind of a herrogliphics like Egyptian , but very different.

                                                               

Toshiro MafuniMYAMOTO  MUSASHI   by Euji Yoshifawa

Toshiro Mafuni

   The story of Japans’ greatest swordsman, he was renown for his prowess probably due the movie , (1956) starring Toshiro Mafune, the perfect fit for such an enigma.  To while away his time while in prison for three yrears, Mushashi  studued painitng and poetry to balance his brutal strength This is a novel in the best tradition of Japanese story telling. Subtle and imaginative, it is teeming with memorable characters,, many of them historical. It transmit a clear picture of the way of the Samuari, interweaving themes of unrequited love, misguided revenge, and absolute dedication to the ‘way of the Samurai,’ it depicts a world We westerners know only vaguely, full of gusto and humor, it has an epic quality and universal appeal.

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ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCOO NEST    by Ken Kesey

   Americans (USA) don’t generally like reading stories about the Hero who dies or is killed at the end , bur Kesey is not of that genre. You’ve probably all seen the move, featuring Nicholson and the awsome ‘Nurse Ratched’ but there is so much more going on in everyones head (especially ‘Chief’s ,the supposedly deaf & dumb Indian with the mop & bucket) . Kesey’s description of MacMurty  is writing at it’s best. Kesey had gained a lot of insight due to his having worked in a nut-house in Oregon, and it shows.

                         

FALL FASHIONS

Hangmans' Bolo

   My initial offering for my FALL Collection is my version of the Bolo tie. As I believe we have gone overboard , wearing expensive,  idiotic ties., my first is a miniature version of a hanging noose.   Of  course, I would like to use a better quality rope and maybe a couple of silver end pieces, this model will have to do as my introduction to the world of fashion.   Stay tuned for my summer shirt with the ¾ sleeves, soon to be revealed.

FROM TOM WOLF

   “I went to see the the  Beatles….And I heard 20,0000 girls screaming together…. And I couldn’t hear what they were screaming, either…. But you don’t have to …They’re screaming Me !  Me !  Me !... I’m Me !... And that’s why wars get fought….”

                             

HUGO GROTIUS

  While in the medieval town of Delft in the Netherlands, we wondered who the statue was in front of the huge church (The ‘New’ church was built in the 13^th century.) The name of Hugo Grotius didn’t mean much to us until we asked a lawyer friend when we returned to the US. It seems he was an international figure even in the 16^th century as Holland was always at war with someone and he wrote volumes regarding International High Seas Navigation and use. Grotius notion of the freedom of the seas would persist until mid-20^th century, and continues to be applied even to this day for much of the high seas, though the application of the concept and the scope of it’s reach is changing.  He was jailed for his writings on Church theory but escaped in a

trunk to France where he was welcomed.  He is probably more famous for his trunk escape than his writings.

Modular moveable plant

Plant all packed

                                                

FARM HOUSING

 since everyone is caught up talking about mini-housing, modular-housing and farm housing  I

Thought I'd unwrap a thirty year old study of housing farm workers that I did for a corporation that was not able to get the concept off the drawing boards. By that time, I had designed and initiated at least two modular plants that actually constructed housing units. 

  The concept was that a modular plant capable of building a minimum of 25 units cold be designed to be portable on just a few trucks and set up near an area that needed farm housing, for permanent homes. The units would be of the same design and would be financed by large growers. And not just seasonal housing. Each grower might need two or so units for his operation , primarily for his managers and family. You would have to go to my seasonal workers housing consisting of wood platforms with theft structures or seasonal workers, such as harvesters for your crop.   I won the contract due to my actual experience with building modular 3D  (three Dimensional) units, even selling  one company to Ford Motor Co.. My mobile p[lant took inspiration from circus workers clever packing of their various components and materials on trucks and trailers. My plant was based on about four trailers that unfolded into various aspects of the plant line, it's and even the entire covered structure, including fencing. Semi-skilled workers would be sourced from local labor markets, where skilled foremen would be an integral part of the package.

3 bedroom, one bath

  There is a lot of exposure about 'Modular Housing' these days, but if you dig deeper into it all, you will notice most of it is for million dollar homes and although it does save a few months of construction time, it may cost more than conventional housing. 

3 BR, 1 B, for family c. 1980

MINI--HOUSING (OR TINY HOMES)

  Also there is a lot of noise about Mini-housing, but certainly not much done about it. We Americans (North America) have an aversion to living in  small, multi-story housing, unlike the Europeans, who can rent you a well designed unit for an amount you can afford.

  Here in the USA we order why so many families can't afford even older rental units and I believe it's due to the fact we  haven’t looked at the problem from the upper end, in other words, How much does a family have to earn in order to pay for a minimum place to. Live?

  In other words, "Let's take it from the top" .

  Let's begin with how much we can earn, starting with the magic $15 an hour.

If I work 8 hours a day, 6 days a week, I can make $720 a week.( Let's not take anything out of his check right now). That's $2,880 a month. Let's say 1/2 goes to rent or $1440 a month. Maybe that works for you in the Deep South, but you cannot even  get a studio here for that in the Western market area. That may work for a single person, but add a couple of kids into the equation, it doesn’t' look good. But what if there was free kid care ? Then the parent could actually make it, but the care  center would have to consider maybe opening earlier and closing later.

HAVE I MENTIONED ?

That a guy named Garoppolo is paid about $30 million each year? He’s a football or baseball player!  And he’s playing a game all us kids played in junior High school!  Do you think a good teacher earns that much in the USA? Just kidding!

GRAFFITI
 On a lighter side, the Eropeans have a great sense of humor, adding a few notes to their One-Way signs.                                     

110 Ruminations

Calatrava in Venizia

For the Crippled in Venezia

BRIDGES OF EUROPE

ROCKER BASCULE - Belgean Canal

Old Swing Bridge, Belgean Canal

Firth of Forth, Scotland

Old Style Bridge

Pedestrian over Canal

Milleau Viaduct, France

     One of our first priorities when we went to Europe about eleven times was to be sure to investigate at least one major engineering project. Most of these were bridges but some were others, especially when we got to Holland.  The small bridges over the canals were all over the place but the Dutch engineered devised a sort of balanced type that one person could operate. That's like the one Van Gogh, the mother of all bridges. But we rented a barge and traveled over several canals of the continent and once in a while, you just have to stop when you see one ahead, and say "What they fuck is that?" On the canal near Brugge,(A)  there is a new bridge that basically rocks on a couple of arm and lifts the roadway up high enough for the boats to pass under. It's a strange feeling, calling the controller and they stop all traffic, even at rush hour, to let our small barge through. Another one is older, (B) but swings up sideways to get the clearance. But it drives me nuts, when I can't figure out how the designers integrated the  interface with the road, same thing  with the ( Falkirk Wheel, a mechanical device that replaced about 11 locks, which took a lot of time and effort to get through, and replace it with a giant "Ferris Wheel' utilizing the forever cleverness of the Scots engineers. But that's another story) The   Venetians have lived for hundreds of years with one or two bridges, but now they needed a fourth one due to increase of the hordes of tourists there. It had to be very unabtrusive, of coarse, so they hired Calatrava to design a slim pedestrian bridge over he Grand Canal next to the Gare. The Architect Calatrava, who does not bother with such details as Budgets, managed to throw one across the canal, but due to the use of steps (Glass, of course) they had to add a Gondola for the infirm to ride across alongside the bridge. Couldn't they just have a hired porter to help them across, instead of the millions pent on this which still requires someone 12 hours a day to help run it?  Well, the French seem to have mote sense and recently hired The architect Foster (British) to design the most beautiful and functional bridge in the world, the Milleau Viaduct.. This made the main highway from Paris to Nice or Marseille a beautiful experience in contrast to the horrifying road that had to go down into the little town of Milleau (Me-You) which always took dozens of lives each year. I just have to add that the cost was only 700 Million, in comparison to the new San Francisco Bay span, which cost about five Billion to complete, and about four times as long. 

Uxmal in Yucatan 1965

THE MAYA IN YUCATAN

   I made a trip to Yucatan in the mid 1960's , as a client wanted me to see how his house weathered a hurricane off he coast of Belize, Honduras, an English colony at the time. Sure enough, when I got to their side of the river, There stood a small guardhouse with a couple of straight-laced British guards, shorts and all, with rifles.  Belize was hit hard by the hurricane and the roof of the small movie theatre was blown off, which gave me carte blanche to anything playing as I rented a small room next door overlooking the devastation.  After renting a small boat (think 'African Queen' and. Perusing the island, I determined my friend's house was pretty much intact but on the neighbor's lot. Miraculously, it was the only house that survived on that Island. But that's not my story here, as I wanted to rant about  how the Catholic missionary, Diego de Landa, destroyed most of the Maya artifacts, as they were in direct conflict with the teaching of the Church. Anything that was breakable or flammable he ordered destroyed. Fortunately , a  couple of  Codex's (Hieroglyphic documents) survived and scholars were able in time, decipher them. As a sidelight, when my daughters went to Cancun for fun and games, ,I didn't think find it on my maps as it wasn't there yet.

Across street from Colosseum

GREAT MOMENTS IN EUROPE

  I''ve been writing about how some bummer times happen when traveling but I should relate a couple of great moments ha occurs once in a while that make it all worthwhile.

THE GREAT RESTAURANT EXPUNGING.

  On Joy and I's first trip to Rome, we had just experienced the giant colosseum and found a nice Ristorante across the street on the second floor of an old building. Being American, we were the first customers to enter, so the proprietors found us a table and gave us our menus, after taking our wine order, of course. Well, is wasn't long  before his second customers arrived and were duly seated with their menus. Now these folks were obviously British subjects, a nice couple with two pre-teen children. Our waiter (Owner) stopped by to take their order, and that's when the problems began.  The couple kept trying to change the menu as they wanted certain things on each item. Now this was an Italian restaurant that served spaghetti and Italian food that probably dates back to Caesars time, and not prone to dabbling. Anyway, we could hear all the  back and forth Brauu hau that escalated into the final order , loudly said, Get out!, Please".   get out of my ristorante! You do not want to be here, as I do not want you to be here!, GET OUT! ". So they left.

   Although we were completely flabbergasted, we could do nothing but applaud this behavior of human rights to protect one's own area, to actually clapping our hands together. After all, there was no one else in the place except us, and it was quite a large place. We even ordered an extra glass of  wine or two as a solidarity measure for the rights of man.

NIGHT TRAIN TO VENICE

   While we're focused on abominable folks, they are all not British (or German) but could even be from the great state of Texas. We had reservations on the train to Venizia from Nice and duly arrived on time and found our carriage and even our compartment, even though their was a lack of custodians to direct us.  The entire binarioes (platform) was kind of quiet and it took us a while to realize we were in the middle of the dreaded 'Greve' or strike. Evening was just beginning but the lights of the train did not turn on , actually, the entire train was being enveloped in darkness.

    We managed to get onboard. And find our tiny compartment consisting of a bunk bed with ladder, and a small corner lavatory, with the . toilet and shower at the end of the car.  A loud and boisterous couple got on and immediately began complaining about how  they did things in  Texas (When you can afford it and loudly extended their Ugly American persona to everyone on the train. "Where is the attendant?, where are the lights? How are we supposed to exist in such a primitive environment?, we paid good money for this trip, do we get any of it back? (No).etc, endlessly. ) We tried to reason with them, explaining that strikes are an every day occurrence here in Europe and we have to make the most of it. Naturally, this fell in deaf ears and they thought we were some hippies from California. (Well, partly true!). The train somehow began moving, sans any concierge or attendant and still lacking in lights. Slowly, order was being restored by the time we. Got to the next town, with even the lights on and an attendant just for this car. Fortunately, the Texans we're at the other end of the car and we busied ourselves with the luxury of our own compartment, were we opened our bottle of wine, broke out some fresh cheese along with a bagette to partake of a small repast as we sped thru the night with our window all the way open, watching the small villages slip by and wonder how the engineers can switch cars so readily and  end up with the the propper amount of compartments left on the train at the end of the line. Somehow, a small, tasty breakfast was brought around shortly before we pulled into the Venezia Train station, situated right on the Canal Royal.

BOOK REVIEW:

HIROSHIMA     As the Saturday Review of Literature says ;” Everyone Able to Read Should Read it.” Author Jorhn  Hershey  has followed the lives of a few survivors of the first Atomic Bomb and later,  tells their version of the terrible things that can happen to human beings and surprisingly, how many actually survived the results of radiation. A small pocket book which you will keep and hopefully re-read.

“THE EXPLORERS”  with SIR RICHARD BURTON

  No, not the actor but one of the most controversial explorers of the late 19^th century.  One of those amazing people who could readily learn to speak about 20 languages, the first non-Muslim to penetrate the Kaaba and the co-founder of the source of the Nile river , unknown until late 1800’s.  His partner was John Speke in this endeavor  fraught with many dangers.  As just an aside, Burton s’ translation of ““A Thousand and One Nights” is still the preferred one.

1924 - The year HITLER SPENT IN PRISON by Peter Range

  If you want to get inside the mind of a Mad-man, see how Hitler created himself and got the power of the German people in order to rule Europe and kill all of Jewish descent.

He had made some real progress with his agenda but was arrested and incarcerated for a few months before his Masterpiece transforming himself from  ‘Traitor’ to Hero in 1924.  After avoiding the death penalty, he spent a few more months in a posh prison before becoming the National Hero for a few years, until he killed himself (Well, someone had to do it.).  Reminded me of someone currently employed by the USA. 

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108 rant  & Ruminations

Earth flatenend

Earth

                                 

WE'LL MISS YOU, MR. FULLER

    Younger followers of this miserable rant probably don't remember Buckminster (Who would name their little baby "Buckminster?) but let's just call him "Bucky" Fuller., after all, I believe he was the first to remind us that Earth was "Spaceship Earth". His geodesic structures are world known. I had  even bought one second hand that was just taken down to  build on my own Top of the World in Laguna Beach. However, I needed to find some stainless steel strapping tape to pull it off, but my finances were in jeopardy and the erection was off, but my favorite invention of his was the first map of the world that did not distort the size of the  Iceland which I never could determine the relative size. But he derived the form from dividing the land masses into a  dodecahedron sphere where each continent is whole. 

                                                         

MAX HEADROOM

  The saga continues. I finally discovered the there was a whole series of 'Interviews' (The complete Series) by the TV screen but everyone forgot about the original movie. I finally located it and will give you a rundown about it soon. However, I ended up on a porno website and had difficulty getting out of it, if you know what I mean.  I did recognize the actor  Matt Frewer (Max) in a Netflix series by the Canadians called " Intelligence", which gives an interesting view of our Spy agencies (CSI, FBI, NSA, etc), currently.  Anyway, I finally tracked down a copy of the virtually unknown movie and have it on VHS. You do know what a VHS tape is, don't you? Most don't know he got his name due to his running thru a gate on a motorcycle and nearly getting killed. The barrier said 

"MAX.  HEADROOM".

A  BRIEF HISTORY OF COFFEE

  This may not be relevant to the dark stuff you load with milk, sugar and what ever, but coffee originally was a 'wake you up" system derived from earlier monasteries.  Some Europeans still drink it full strength, nothing like the watered down beverage we Westerners like.

 Maybe it originated in Yemen, near Sana'a. Or was it Ethiopia? The story goes like this; A shepherd noticed his goats (or was it sheep?) up and about all nite. He saw they were eating fruit from bushes so he tried some and was invigerated and his acuity increased. But he had only been eating the fruit and it was discovered soon enough (several centuries, probably) that the nut has the good stuff in it. So they dispensed with the fruit and found methods to roast the  nut and made a very strong drink. There seem to be two types; Robusta and Arabica. Legend has it that it was shipped from Mokha, a city port on the Red Sea, ergo the name "Mokha". Monks used it in their ceremonies . Bahia = Kave = coffee.

  Ethiopians chewed the beans at first  but Ali Ibn Omal Al-Shadhili, a Sufi, first brewed it and as it was the Sufi's who traveled around brought it to the Middle East. But like tea, one could be executed if caught exporting a seed or a  seedling. Early coffee houses, called Qayveh Kaneh appeared in Arabia but we're all closed in 1511 by Khair-Bey as they were hothouses of insurrection. 

   Ethiopia was probably home to first bush, but Yeman cultivated and processed and organized the coffee trade. Qat, a mild narcotic, chewed like coca leaf by all the men, became more profitable to grow, ergo the coffee trade went away.

  The first coffee houses were called Kiva Han and may be still there. The Dutch smuggled seeds out of Yemen to their colonies in Java and Ceylon.

   The French got involved due to the King Louis XIV in 1715. He got a tree from the Dutch and set up farms in Martinique.   The story of how it got to Brazil is better. A Brazilian Lieut. Col. Francisco de Melo Paheta visited Martinique to mediate a dispute between the Dutch and French. The story says he seduced the wife of the French governor as a parting gift was sent a bouquet containing viable coffee seeds and shoots. those are the origin of Brazilian coffee production, being in the proper climate zone. 

BUYING A  WIFE  (An excerpt from my book "the Education of an Architect).

   BIG SUR. -  Mrs Deetjin, as everyone called her, was a mountain of a woman, so fat, she could not get out of bed. She was kind of the local newspaper, as she knew all the gossip.  That is where I first met Henry Miller, as I knew his close friend, Emile White.  Emil lived across the highway just a couple of feet from the road. When you stepped out his door, you had to be careful not to be run over by a speeding car. Emile was an artist who was completely color blind, but refused to admit it and did primitive type of paintings with outrageous colors. He also did many sketches of Miller ( Trying to capture his homeliness?) which actually captured his disjointed  facade. Well, he and Miller had sent to France for a couple of mail-order wives a few years previously. They (THE YOUNG GIRLS) actually came over, lived with them for a short while, then split for better pastures. I don't know if they ever got married, but it's probable as that is the only reason to come over here is to get citizenship. Emil eventually opened a gallery for Henry Miller near Nepenthe restaurant, which still exists.

Coaster

  

NOTEWORTHY COMMENTS BY LIAN PEARS

" A corporation is a moral imbecile. It has no sense of right or wrong,  Any restraints must come from the outside, laws and customs."

Brugge snack

BEERS OF THE WORLD

  Unless you've been to Belgium and.were a connoisseur of good beers, you may not have heard about "Delirium Tremens", Voted one of the 50 great beers of the world. Why would you choose a pink elephant for your logo and alcoholic Tremens for a name? Most of these beers use the old 1516 Beer brewing laws and ingrediants.

Anyway , trust me, it is as good  as it they claim.

DO YOU FEEL INEFFECTIVE WHEN VOTING?

  I do understand that total representation of any politician to be inserted in our senate can be disruptive, as did happen when  Hitler was established in such a mode and the dis-function of legislatures such as Italy and Greece. But a recent columnist brought to light RANKED -CHOICE VOTING , whatever that means. Our Two-Party system has descended in   a non-compromise situation and seems totally separate from  the specter of the "Lobbyists" who seem to be more in control than the voted-in Pols.  All the hub-bub on Gerrymandering has gotten our attention but that may have a small feed the on or voting.  But maybe Proportional voting would work better, as it does in Europe.  Recently, voters in Maine passed a referendum regarding ranked -choice voting, of course the State Legislature had done everything to fight it but it may  be on their June primary ballot.  A Group. Called Fait Vote has been advocating this system for a long time. I wish we could hear more of it.

UNISEX TOILET

  I've put up a small note on our Unisex toilet (Men & Women ):

THIS FACILITY : FOR USE OF;

  GAY BOYS

  LESBIANS

  BI-SEXUALS

  TRANS-SEXUALS

  TRANS-SPECIES (Please clean-up after yourselves).

  TRANS-KARMAS

  WAIT - WHAT ABOUT US FEW HETEROSEXUALS?

ANOTHER LOOK AT THE DATE

  A monk (Dionysus Exiguus) introduced a new calendar based on the birth of Jesus Christ around 532. Up to that time dates were named for the Roman Consul. He designated the years after Jesus as Anno Domini., which did not catch on until after Exiguus death. A monk, Venebale Bede, began using this calendar in his writing around the eight century. When is someone going to start using my new system of Dates? (It begins about the time of invention of writing).

ON THE BEACH

  I've just finished Daniel Ellsberg's book aptly called DOOMSDAY MACHINE, and saw him and Peter Coyote at the Vets' auditorium in Petaluma.

  Maybe only the older folks will remember "Deep Throat", the first whistleblower who copied thousands of pages of Top Secret Material from the Pentagon and gave it to the Washington Post which started a Shit-storm among our top level politicians. That was him! He was trying to get us out of the drawn out war with Vietnam, but his exposure of the tenuous hold  our dear leaders have on the 'Button' is exposed brilliantly. We all know that we have literally thousands of Nuclear warhead missiles in the US and Europe,(We do know, don't we?)  as well as a scattered all over the Pacific Ocean. You may know of the 'football' briefcase that accompanies our president at all times, but you may not know that it is a hoax. There are a plethora of 'buttons'  that  have to be worked thru to set off any one missile, either from North Dakota, an Air Force bomber (always in the air!) , a submarine loaded with a dozen Nukes, as well as a bunch of silos all over Europe, all pointed at Russia and China. This book describes how close we have come (several times) to extinguishing all life on Earth.  At which time I had to get the Video of 1959 "ON THE BEACH" again. It is very difficult to find as most people of the world do not seem much concerned that at any moment the and the rest of all life will be dead in a couple of years. Even Gregory Peck and Ava Gardner can't seem to make it popular. it seems amazing that we don't want to know any message that tells about our certain destruction but just try to find the video, which was done in 1959! I finally had to buy one. I think I'll try to get the book also.  If you get frustrated trying to see a copy of the video, let me know and I will loan you mine.

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