Two of my main reasons for living

Coffee drinkers, save the rain forest, please

I was told about a serious malpractice today at work by a colleague. He watched a television programme that showed rain forest canopies being cut off to provide coffee plantations with more sunlight. This increases yield, and decreases costs dramatically. Instead of having to hand-pick beans off natural winding coffee plants, bushy, short plants are easier to harvest, and grow faster in the direct sunlight.

My immediate response was than I would no longer drink coffee then. The environment is important to me. More important than coffee, in fact.



Luckily there is an alternative. Rainforest Alliance certifies coffee beans grown sustainably. Don't settle for anything less. For more information see here.

Don't take your coffee too seriously

Found this on FurtherAfield: Six months in jail for complaining about coffee. And then see this blog entry on El Rancho Relaxo: Epic - Disappointing.

I need a few spare dollars...

I am drooling. Saw this Brubaker bass on the Ed Roman Guitar site.

Webcast now available

Well, not really my webcast. Spotted it at a service station in Carlisle. Yeah, baby!

The end of Easter - back to the salt mines

I spent last week in London on business. The Singapore London leg was nice, since I was upgraded to first class on Qantas. But I also wanted to get back home a day early, and all SAA could offer me, a Qantas customer, was economy class. It sucked. Not to mention that they broke my guitar, and stole a trinket that was supposed to be a present for my wife. That really sucked.

Sorry, all my RSA friends and family, but the short visit to RSA just reaffirmed my conviction to never return if I can avoid doing so. Harsh words, speaking about my motherland like that. Since in any population group, there is a normal distribution of people. Most people are average, some are really good, some are really bad.

One bad apple spoils the whole basket? Well, it certainly spoilt the moment I unpacked everything.

Hmmm, I did mention salt mines earlier. So what is the deal with calling going back to work going back to the salt mines? In Western Australia, there are two main salt mines, one at Dampier, and one at Port Headland.

Mining comprises letting water into a flat pond, sitting back and watching the water evaporate, leaving salt behind, and scooping up the salt with a front-end loader.

Hardly back-breaking work, if you ask me. I have a friend who used to manage both operations, and she always heard the same joke about watching salt dry. Even though it kept her very busy...

Rotosound and Elite - which is best?

I purchased a set of Bass Central Stadium Series Stainless Steel Elites strings today. We will see how they fare. The last set of Rotosound 666LD's are wearing out very fast.

In other news, guitar tablature is becoming legal. See the New York Times for details.