Scary Stuff!

We’ve all seen movies and TV dramas about child sex offenders, or sex offenders in general. But, when you see for yourself the number of sex offenders in your own city, plain as day through the Family Watchdog web site, it really hits closer to home – literally! Check out the map below of registered sex offenders. Red squares indicate child sex offenders:                                         

Burger Minute

My Piece of Pie was a blog designed to discuss the environment 90% of the time and total unrelated jive-talk the other 10.

Today’s topic of discussion is an Austin hamburger update.

6th Street is home to a revolving array bars touting soft porn, dollar shots and all forms and letters of hepatitis. However, there are a few spots that have gone the distance, and two in particular that serve up mighty tasty burgers. One of them is The Jackalope.

Possibly best remembered by visitors for the apparent breast motif throughout the bars lighting fixtures and velvet paintings of naked women, The Jackalope also boasts a stellar line-up of gastronomic delights. None among which will help energize your day or lower your LDL levels. But, they are damn tasty!

The menu offers a variety of sandwich choices from burgers to chicken to po-boys. I can only vouch for the burger (and the fried pickles we had as an appetizer – OoooooeeeEEEE), but I hear all the sandwiches are yummy. Mine today was perfect in it’s almost crunchy outer layer, but pinky-red medium-rare interior. Juicy, with pickles, red onion, tomato, ketchup and brown mustard. The sides of my mouth are still watering! Although it’s big, and you should be prepared with an appetite, it’s not toooo big. The side of waffle fries are also that perfect combo of texture, salt and crisp-a-liciousness.

This burger was 5 napkins worthy. Literally, I used five napkins to wipe up the crap around my mouth.

Evite Goes Green

First off – I’d like to start brainstorming on other phrases that constitute “sustainability” other than “green”.  Yea, maybe it works, maybe it’s hook, line and sinker for the general public…but, it’s starting to make me turn green myself.   For another post.

This one will be a quickie.  I received an Evite today for a barbecue and noticed that the online, social networking invitation service now offers the ability for members of the guest list to start a carpooling group.  Super!

Damn Hippies!

The Man = 1; Save Our Springs Alliance = 0.

A judge recently ruled in favor of developer Lazy Nine who SOS sued to stop residential development along Austin’s Hwy 71 to prevent more pollution to our acquifers.  SOS is now ordered to pay for Lazy Nine’s $294,000 lawyer fees, so, instead of paying, the long-standing Austin organization filed for Chapter 13, which protects them from paying…while they fight the judges ruling.

Here’s a pic of Barton Springs….where you will have a celebrity mPOP siting!

March of the Dying Bees

So they sting….and yea – it hurts….a lot.  There are some of you who even have to use epi pens when you get stung (otherwise known as strange little kids with institutional glasses who eat Chef Boyarde ravioli at lunch), so the thought that bees could be wiped off the earth may actually seem appealing.  That is, until you take a step back and realize the importance of bees as plant procreators, pollen carriers, bad-ass nature loving little sting machines.

A recent post in the blog Celsias points to this growing concern over the bees.  It’s a very interesting – a bit long – piece on the reasons behind the diminishing bee populations around the world – most severely in the U.S.  The summary of their report is that scientists have been able to track the possible cause of mass bee deaths to an additive that has been added to grow corn safely, and free from the harm of insects.  Apparently, bees eat the corn, and the additive changes the dynamics of their intestines, making it easier for parasites to take over and kill the buzzers.

What this means for us.  Well, not to scare you, but Albert Einstein, easily one of the smartest men to ever walk the planet had this to say about bees: “If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man.”

Victory to Stop Coal Plants in Texas

There have been some battles won in the last week against Gov. Perry’s mandate to fast track the permits for TXU to build coal-fire power plants throughout central and north Texas. In a statement from Stop the Coal Plant.org Judge Yelonsky found that Gov. Perry lacked the authority to mandate the fast tracking of permits for TXU. The truth is, our Texas government is set up to keep too much power out of the hands of our fearless governor. He/She is meant to be a figure-head in many ways – and what a figure Rick Perry is:

“Hahahaha! Oh, that’s a good one, Willie!”

The battle is not over, however. Three of TXU’s existing coal plants in Texas rank among the top 10 worst in the nation for mercury pollution. Furthermore, four of TXU’s coal plants lack scrubbers to reduce sulfur emissions. So, let me ask you – do you really believe TXU when they claim to produce “cleaner” coal plants for Texas? When they claim 80% cleaner coal plants in their ads – what does that really mean in relation to 100% clean air? How clean can coal get, anyway? Seems to me, cleaning coal would be like erasing permanent marker.

Keep fighting the coal plants – this story is not near from over. But, a victory in the long fight is hopeful.

Inconvenient Truth wins Oscar for Best Documentary

Winning an Oscar is a PR and Marketing coup no matter which way you slice it. Last night the movie on global warming – The Inconvenient Truth – won an Oscar for best documentary and won even more recognition, and guarenteed post Oscar recognition for a phenomenal, educational and provoking movie.

Al Gore tried his darndest to be quippy and wry on the big Oscar stage, but I think what we all learned from The Inconvenient Truth is that Al Gore should concentrate all his energies into teaching policy makers and the movers and shakers all he knows on the Climate Crisis. Funny ain’t his thing…but it’s endearing and kind of cute when he tries.

Along with Ronald Reagan, Al Gore can also count himself as part of the Internet Movie Database (IMBd). Only in America!

Nice floors!

My co-worker, and environmentalist friend Rachel Brush, recently installed new floors in her home that are made from recycled materials.  The floors are called Marmoleum.

Check out the pictures of her new floors here!

Do it…NOW!

Did you do it?  Then do it….NOW!

I mean it!

Under the Sea

When I read news about sea-life quality declining and the uncertain future of the world’s fisheries and dying coastal waters, I imagine litte Nemo, the Snorkles, or that french – speaking crab from Little Mermaid, Sebastian, and all their friends and little under water habitats…and it makes me sad. Will my grand-children even know what a crab cake tastes like or eat a raw oyster smothered in lemon and Tabasco? We’ll these aquatic tasties be merely pictures and encyclopedic references about which future generations can read?

In a report from BBC News, wind shifts, possibly caused by global warming, are causing major problems with the delicate eco-system along coastal waters – globally. Mass deaths of fish and crabs – leading to entire Dead Zones of area waters off of the coast of Oregon – are causing alarm in the science and fishing communities. Although die off is a part of historical and normal aquatic life cycles, the shear number of animal and plant life deaths has been off the charts in the last few years.

“Extreme marine suffocations have occurred off the west coast of the US every year for the last five years.

The most intense event, which left the ocean floor littered with the carcasses of crabs, happened in 2006.”
There are tons of not-very well known marine awareness organizations all over the world – mostly focusing on local change and protection of local water. One great example of an organization that has local interests (i.e. Salmon) but stretches it’s philosophical boundaries, is the Oregon based marine awareness organization called Ecotrust. You can read about it here on the WorldChanging blog.

Cute and freaky aquatic life sure to go by way of the dinasour. “Save me!” he says. Cutie-wootie-shmmoooo:

Happy Belated Valentine’s Day!

This post has nothing to do with the climate crisis, and everything to do with – just plain, good-old fashion crisis.

Why is it that friends who would never put themselves on dating web sites are the first to recommend that you should? It’s kind of like taking a sip of a celery and pickle smoothie, winsing a disgusted look, and then handing your friend the drink and saying, “Oh God. That’s awful….try it.”

Success, interest and comfort with online dating services is very personal. Some people dig it, other people don’t. Bringing me to the conclusion that there are two types of people on this planet – people who enjoy dating services and normal people.

Dating services were created and designed for two reasons, and with varying weights of intent on both reasons. One reason – 1/8 of the intent – to help single people find one another through a superficial barrier called the computer monitor. Second reason – all the rest – is to make money. So, thousands of singles – remain single…while the creators of Match, eHarmony and the like count their money from the steamy warmth of their bubbly, jet propelled hot tubs. Good luck with that.

Meanwhile, I sit at work, sipping on a cold, phat beer thinking, “it’s not all that bad!”