Three Little Birds

To view and hear a great "Three Little Birds," Video go to this link. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnDrbagYm24 It's really worth a watch. Thanks Annelise! I love blogging...

Swallows living in Taipei. They are cool. These three babies are the second set the couple have raised. They are living on my daily walk to the bus on the way to work. It's amazing how quickly they grow up. Speaking of quickly....today is the last day of my teaching position at Taipei Private Zhong Shan Elementary School. Next stop Future Heir Bilingual Elementary School in Taichung.

Video

Making this video is taking a long time. The software - Cyberlink's Power Director 5" isn't friendly to my computer. This could be to the size of my memory - minimum for program. I have plenty of hard drive. Just that pesky memory. Well still working on it. I see a new computer in my future packed with plenty of memory. Perhaps a MAC.

Other happenings. School is over in 8 days. I'll be setting up the new household in Taichung - Taiwan's 3rd largest city - for a couple of weeks. Then I'll head for Hawaii for 3 weeks! Really want to visit friends and the environment. 

I'll spend about 5 days on Oahu, two days on Kaua'i to revisit old places and process brother George - who died about 2 years ago, and then a couple of weeks on the Big Island. 

Six Grade You Tube

I've been busy working on the You Tube video. This first video is a lot of work because I'm getting used to using the software - "Power Director 5." It's a cyber software. I have some good raw footage but only a few choice takes. I showed the six graders the raw footage, and I could tell they wished they would have done more planning. Experience is learning.

Stay tuned for the You Tube posting.

Out of Gas - CNN International

CNN International - which is a totally different and more real, hard-hitting and in-depth TV network than the bubble gum news you get from CNN in the US - had a pretty good special report about oil and gas and the impact of a shortage caused by natural and or terrorist disasters or just caused by increasing demand.

http://www.cnn.com/CNNI/

The bottom line - personal transportation is still the largest waste and place where energy could be saved. Every mile per gallon increase for cars and trucks in the US is equal to about 370,000 barrels of oil a day. Makes a large part of the solution obvious. Better gas mileage.

Brazil was shown as a model country. They are energy independent. Most of their car fuel comes from high octane sugar-cane ethanol. Their cars can use 100% of this ethanol as fuel and it costs less than oil-gas. Why didn't Hawaii have the foresight to do something like this? Was it every really studied? Is there enough sugar cane growing areas left to provide Hawaii with fuel for automobiles?

The other problem is that China is building a oil-based society copied from ours. Think of all those new cars on the road - millions. Where will all the new oil come from? What about all the new green house gases?

Seems almost hopeless to me. I do my part but I'm sure it's not enough. I use public transportation whenever I can or I walk or ride a bike. I could do more.

I'm 51 years old. Maybe the changes that will happen won't affect me so much. But I wonder about the elementary students that I teach and others like them.

Will it all just work out naturally? Just evolve to be okay? I don't know...I doubt it.

Cicadas

The heat and humidity has brought out the cicadas in Changhua. They are so cool. When I was a kid in Toledo, Ohio I remember hearing their buzzzzzzzzzuuuuuuubuuuuuuuzzzzzzzzzzuuuuu... in the hot summer. Here are a few shots from a park near our Changhua home. These boys were doing what boys do - catchem.

Homesickness \ Culturesickness Comes and Goes

It doesn't take much to set off a bout of homesickness or cultural sickness. This time a Gecko came into the Taipei home. Here people don't really allow them in their house. However, in Hawaii some Geckos are good as they keep the other critters in check. Gecko poop though, is a pain to clean up...

So to keep it simple, I go back to a basic premis...get enjoyment out of every day. So, I feel better.