A few months ago, I was talking to a guy who used to work at one of the upscale hotels in San Francisco. He got started talking about some of the various guests they had. The Rolling Stones stayed there, and he was shocked at the appearance of the band. He said “I wasn’t sure if they were alive or dead”. The hard living has really taken a toll on their bodies. They were still nice, and they ended up jamming in the lounge one night with another famous band (I forgot the name), so some of the employees had the chance to see something special.

When asked about the best and worst guests, he said the best guest was Jimmy Buffet. Apparently he was really nice and everyone loved him.

On the other end of the spectrum was Mariah Carey. She checked in once in the middle of the night, but soon was unhappy. She yelled at the manager because the hotel was out of her favorite wine. Then she was unhappy with the position of a couch in her suite so at 4am, the hotel had to send two people up to move the couch. The couch, it turns out, was where her assistant had to sleep. Mariah did have an adjoining room reserved, but that was not for her assistant. Rather, it was booked strictly to hold Mariah’s clothes. So her clothes got a spacious room and the assistant got the couch. Kind of tells you all you need to know right there.

They also had another guest stay with them. He was the guy who held Ice Cube or one of the other rappers upside down out of a window or balcony at some Miami hotel I believe. Anyway, when this guy checked into the hotel, the hotel set aside a room opposite this guy’s room, where they had three hotel security people at all times. My acquaintance said this guy was definitely a tough cookie. However, after the first night had passed (colorfully I understand) and the hotel had told him, “Okay, no guns on the bed and no naked women in the corridors”, everything was okay. The guy was very nice and a big teddy bear after that.

I remember when I got my first home computer. I was one of those people who swore they had no use for a computer at home, and for a few years before I had scoffed at the notion that a home computer was anything but a colossal waste of money. When I finally broke down and got one, and went on the internet for the first time, I was online for around six hours or so. I couldn’t believe all the different stuff on the net, and the immense number of places you could travel to.

I’m reminded of that again tonight. I checked into a cremation alternative for a blog post and a few minutes later I’m reading about how willow trees are eco friendly and an improvement over many other kinds of timber. All the while listening to music from a myspace page (check out Mr Cool if you like guitar instrumentals). Funerals, lumber, and electric guitars. We are a definitely a full service blog tonight!

Alkaline hydrolysis basically pressure cooks the body at 300 degrees in lye, with an end result of brown syrupy liquid that can be flushed down a drain, as well as some dry bone residue similar to cremation ashes. Since cremation gives off CO2 and mercury (from dental fillings), this was brought up as an alternative. The process is currently used for animal carcasses and cadavers.

The eco friendly site discusses various options, but what caught my eye was the info about willow trees, which can be cut once a year, store carbon, and also absorb nitrogen. The nitrogen runoff is a real issue around agricultural areas, and has resulted in a huge ocean dead zone below the mouth of the Mississippi, among other areas. So that part of it was really interesting.

Popular Science web page discusses the alkaline hydrolysis, as well as two other ideas - using your decomposing body as a fuel cell to light up a small LED display above your grave, and converting your ashes to graphite pencils.
Popular Science

Link to eco-friendly funeral ideas (& willow tree info):
Eco funeral

And last but not least, the music link:
Mr. Cool

As usual, one thing leads to another when looking up things on the internet. I was reading an article by Ronald Bailey in April 2008 issue of REASON magazine that talked about Great Awakenings over the years. In it, he mentioned that graham crackers were invented by Benjamin Graham, who thought they would help cool sexual passions. He was the head of the Pennsylvania Temperance Society in 1930, and believed too much sexual passion would cause indigestion, headaches, insanity, etc.

I went to Wikipedia, and found a link to Cecil Adams “the straight dope”. He had more info and it’s well worth reading. I should note that although Graham had some weird ideas, some of his beliefs about nutrition, sleep, and clean water were actually well thought out and entirely correct.

One other fact in the Bailey article was that corn flakes were invented by the Seventh Day Adventist doctor John Harvey Kellogg. He thought they would be bland and therefore suppress the urge to masturbate.

Another interesting item in the Bailey REASON article was that in the early 1800’s, American women were legally free to terminate a pregnancy up until fetal movement could be detected. Later in the mid 1800’s, the newly formed American Medical Association began a campaign to ban abortions. Bailey thinks part of the reason behind this was to increase Protestant births (Protestants were the American majority at that point) and help fight off the influx of Catholics from Ireland.

The last thing that caught my eye in the REASON article was that in 2006, New York City public health officials began requiring medical labs to report the results of blood sugar tests for all of the city’s diabetics directly to the health department. Those not adequately controlling their diabetes will receive phone calls or letters from the health department. Big Brother is apparently alive and well in New York City. I see the same thing in SF. Public officials may not do anything to control runaway government spending, make the streets safer or the schools stronger, but they will do their best to focus on the critical issues to society like menu labelling and such.

Link to Cecil Adams (short, worth reading):
Straight Dope

Link to Ronald Bailey’s REASON article (rather long):
Ronald Bailey

Link to Wikipedia corn flakes:
Corn flakes

If you are single, with lots of money but not much sense of logic, then I have I got a deal for you!

How about a studio condo starting at about $1000 per square foot? Yes, the real estate market has not fully crashed yet in San Francisco, and the latest entry in the overpriced category is Cubix Yerba Buena. They are marketing studio condos (no bedrooms, just like a studio apartment) that are sized from 250 to 350 square feet. The prices start at $275,000 and top off at $330,000. That does not include monthly homeowner dues of $270. So you are paying between $942 and $1100 a square foot.

Why anybody would want to buy an overpriced closet is beyond me. It’ll be interesting to see how well they do. They have sold three units so far. The location is not that great, kitty corner from a major freeway onramp in a mixed residential / industrial / commercial neighborhood. It just amazes me what people are buying.

Their website is:
Cubix

Interesting article in the Telegraph, a UK paper. It discussed the dollar’s recent rise, and China’s contribution to that. China has bought 50 billion worth of dollars recently, which is part of the recent dollar rally. Interesting to read about the recent slowdown:

Much of the clothing, footwear and furniture industry has been hit, leading to mass plant closures in the Pearl River Delta.
"During the first half of this year, about 67,000 small and medium-sized companies went bankrupt throughout China, leaving more than 20m people out of work," said the National Development and Reform Commission. "Bankruptcies of textile and spinning companies have numbered more than 10,000. Two thirds are on the brink of bankruptcy."

Looks like the Chinese are feeling some of the pain that American manufacturers have felt the last few years.

Link is below:
Telegraph Article