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December 26, 2007
China and Trees
TIMBER LINE
China's timber exports, about 40 percent of which goes to the United States, exceed $17 billion. But while some furniture and building-supply stores have agreed in theory to buy only wood certified by the Forest Stewardship Council as sustainably and legally harvested, implementation is another story.
Ikea: The chain buys a quarter of its furniture stock from China, which imports wood from Russia. A recent Washington Post investigation found that even though about half the wood from Russia is illegally harvested, Ikea employs only two foresters in China and three in Russia to track the origins of its wood. A company official acknowledged that the expense of guaranteeing its wood's legality is prohibitive. Ikea has a goal that by 2009, at least 30 percent of its wood will be certified. Currently, only 4 percent of the wood used in its Chinese factories passes that test.
Home Depot: Only 5 percent of its wood products are made from certified timber.
Armstrong Floor Products: Sells endangered Indonesian merbau, and declines to join the certification plan.
—J.L.
Since they've already harvested as much timber within China they now have to get it elsewhere and that is involving a lot of intentional arson and other things to get timber in whether it harms the environment or not. There's a chart that shows what three of the largest companies Americans are familiar with and probably buy wood products from: Ikea, Home Depot and Armstrong - and shows how much wood is sustainably harvested.
Posted by genex at 2:55 PM | Comments (0)
December 25, 2007
Full Moon at Harbin
I finally got to check out Harbin Hot Springs this past week and it happened to be on a full moon evening as well which was magnificent. The cool air and warm springs were a perfect match just before the busy Christmas holidays. The trip up and back wasn't bad either in Chris' Z8 which feels like it just isn't happy until it hits 80 MPH!
20 MPH? Yeah right...
Posted by genex at 11:38 PM | Comments (0)
December 12, 2007
on the field...
Finally shot my first NFL game which was the San Francisco 49ers vs. the Minnesota Vikings. Of course the Niners have been sucking ass, but what can you do? I did get to see Shaun Hill get his first touchdown and interception. It was a lot of fun being on the sidelines alongside notables like Peter Read Miller and the Z Man, Michael Zagaris. I kinda felt like a fool with my tiny 70-200 when everyone was shooting with 400s but hey it was fun nonetheless.
Posted by genex at 6:14 PM | Comments (0)
December 10, 2007
My crazy Thursday
So I woke up somewhere I didn't expect this morning and little did I realize that was just the beginning of a typically crazy LA day for me. After finally getting motivated to get out of bed and having some breakfast around brunch time, I gathered my stuff and finally left in the afternoon and headed out to either check out the taping of American Gladiators since three of my friends are on the new show (Jamie Reed, Beth Horn and Tanji Johnson). Well, I heard it took forever during the tapings and I wasn't feeling particularly motivated so I decided instead to check out the Museum of Jurassic Technology which I had heard about sometime before and always wanted to check out.
Well, after arriving I realized that it's really quite huge inside and packed with amazing exhibits. They range from the educational to the bizarre - some are real and some are absurd, but they are almost all enjoyable. You have to really give yourself time here and if you are not 100% sober, you can literally get lost inside (as I did when I realized I needed to leave to meet my dinner date).
So needless to say, I was disappointed that I had to jet without the full experience, but the good news is that I've got a good reason to come back!
Well, dinner was with my friend Kristy Hawkins who is actually the 2007 NPC Women's Bodybuilding National Champion. She won the national title about two weeks ago so was still looking fantastic. We got a wild hair and decided to go to Red Lobster of all places. That's the crayon coloring image on the strip at left where she got to draw her own trophy which of course was a female bodybuilder.
After dinner we kicked it for a bit, and I decided to go grab a drink and headed to a place called Little Cave. I hadn't been there before but it sounded pretty cool and it was (see my Yelp review here). After three or four pints there, I recalled that Mr. T's Bowl was somewhat nearby.
Being a fan of Mr. T and having won my sole athletic trophy in bowling it seemed like the perfect fit.
Well, upon arrival I wandered into the bar area and was greeted by Paulina. She's been bartending there quite a while and she was very hospitable in finding me an alternative to my original choice of a shot of Fernet (which seems to only be in bars in San Francisco). After letting me taste some Blavod (black vodka) we decided upon some Jameson. Her pours were heavy, and the next thing I knew, I was bombed. I do recall a gigantic whisky ginger too but that's about it. I will have to say that that may now be my favorite drink, even though I felt a bit banged up the next morning...
Posted by genex at 6:12 PM | Comments (0)
December 8, 2007
sideways remix
On my bizzaro trip to LA I was listening to KCRW and heard this great remix of Sideways which is a song I liked by Let's Go Sailing. It's by Asa Taccone. They have it on their site and you can also get it on iTunes - check it out!
Posted by genex at 9:11 PM | Comments (0)
December 4, 2007
the view from Twin Peaks
My dad was in town on a clear evening and after we got sushi for dinner we drove up to Twin Peaks and got to enjoy this view of San Francisco...
Posted by genex at 10:39 PM | Comments (0)