A Day In Del Mar

Kudos to Joe Harper for finally getting the Breeders Cup to Del Mar.  It's been years in the works, but he finally made it happen.  To make it extra special, the city of Del Mar commissioned 20 artists to decorate 20 life size fiberglass horses, and display them around San Diego.  Friday I took a group of 35 women on a driving/walking tour of the horses.  We had a beautiful day, weather wise, and a wonderful time.

The undecorated horses were for sale for $15,000, and were bought by local businessmen and philanthropists.  Each horse was decorated by a local artist and displayed around town.  After the Breeders Cup is over, the horses will be auctioned off to various charities.  The one in front of Americana Restaurant in Del Mar is already spoken for.  It will go to the Boys and Girls Club of Solana Beach.  You can go to the website and get a map of the location of all the horses, and pictures of each.  It's interesting to see how each artist interpreted the racetrack and it's surroundings.

We began our tour at Seaside Market, and did the first part by car.  We saw one horse on Coast Highway, one on Cedros, three on Via de la Valle, and finally arrived in Del Mar.  Here we took a short walk, starting at L'Auberge, going down to the little park, then back near the plaza, where we saw five horses in all.  Lunch was next, with some of our group staying in Del Mar and going to Sbicca, other went to Flower Hill Mall to see one final horse and eat at one of my favorite lunch spots, Flower Child.

If you have an hour or two with nothing do, try to see the horses, before they are taken somewhere else.  I have a few favorites.  I loved the one in front of Pamplemousse, the one in front of Red Tractons, and the one on Coast Highway in Solana Beach.  I'm sure everyone will have different favorites, but one thing is for sure.  Commissioning the painting of these fiberglass horses was a great addition to the Breeder's Cup.  Enjoy.

How Our Lives Will Change In The Next Two Decades

Thanks, Jan, for sending me this interesting article on how our lives will change in the next 20 years.  The ideas in this blog come from points made by Udo Gollub.  Here are some of the changes he thinks will take place.

1.  Artificial intelligence:  computers will become exponentially better at understanding the world.  This year, a computer beat the best Go player in the world, 10 years earlier than expected.
2.  Because of IBM Watson, you can find out answers to basic legal questions in seconds.  Law will be specialized, and there will be 90% less lawyers in the future.
3.  Autonomous cars:  In 2018 the first self-driving cars will hit the road.  Around 2020, the complete auto industry will start to be disrupted.  You probably won't need to own a car anymore.  You will call a car with your phone, it will show up at your location and drive you to your destination.  You will not need to park it, and will only pay for the driven distance.  Our grandkids may never get a driver's license or own a car.
4.  Parking lots will become parks, and driving accidents and deaths will be dramatically reduced.
5.  Real estate will change.  Because you can work while you commute, people will move further away from work to live in a better neighborhood.
6.  Agriculture:  There will be an agricultural robot in the future.  Farmers in third world countries can then become managers of their field instead of working in the field all day.
7.Bitcoin may become the default reserve currency of the world!
8.  The cheapest smart phones are already at $10 in Africa and Asia.  By 2020, 70% of all humans will own a smart phone.  That means that everyone will have access to world class education.
9.  Work:  70-80% of jobs will disappear in the next 20 years.  There will be a lot of new jobs, but it is not clear if there will be enough new jobs in such a short time.
10.  3D printing.  The price of the cheapest 3D printer has already been dramatically reduced, and all major shoe companies have already started printing 3D shoes.  At the end of this year, new smart phones will have 3D scanning possibilities.  You can then 3D scan your feet and print your perfect shoe at home.

12.  Medical:  Your smart phone will be ale to scan your retina, take a blood sample and have you breathe into it.  It then analyses 54 biomarkers that will identify nearly any disease.  It will be cheap so in a few years everyone on the planet will have access to world class medical analysis, nearly for free.  Good bye, medical establishment.  For more info on this fascinating possibility, read Eric Toppel.

Will all of these predictions come to pass?  Probably not, but most of them will.  We need to get ready for huge changes in medical and technological ways.  The most important problem I see is what we are going to do with all the people that will be put out of work by these advancements.  That's for the really smart people working at think tanks to figure out.

Ristorante Illando: Simple, Fresh, Italian

Another month, and another trip to a fabulous restaurant with my lunch bunch group.  In September we dined at Ristorante Illando, at 1825 India Street in Little Italy.  If you're not careful, you'll end up at Landini's, their pizza restaurant.  Illando is upstairs, reached by a narrow staircase that is almost missed.  In fact, part of our group walked right by it the first time.  I had heard it was good, and their $15, three course luncheon menu, could not be passed up.  It was worth much more, and is a great spot for lunch or dinner when you're in Little Italy.

First, the restaurant menu is inspired by the Florentine roots of its owners.  The restaurant itself has the rustic charm of Tuscany, with wood on the walls, great metal tables and comfortable chairs.  We all ordered the three course menu which consisted of the following:  bruschetta (with a little arugula salad in the middle) or caesar salad first, followed by spaghetti bolognase, ravioli stuffed with ricotta and spinach and topped with a pink vodka sauce (that's what I ordered), or pollo limone with vegetables.  We had all of these dishes, and everyone cleaned their plate.  The pasta was perfectly cooked, the sauces were delicious.  For dessert, we enjoyed tiramisu or cheese cake.  I ordered the tiramisu and it was fantastic.

Ristorante Illando uses fresh, local ingredients, and has a pretty typical Italian menu.  Burrata, prosciutto, carpacio, tomato or minestrone soup, and several salads are on the left hand side of the menu.  The right hand side has about 12 different pasta dishes such as the ones we had a lunch, but also pappardelle, made several ways.  Chicken parmesean, scallops and grilled lamb are also on the menu.

Ristorante Illando reminds me of dining in a small Tuscan farmhouse.  The restaurant only seats about 40 people, so do make a reservation.  It's a great little find, and although I didn't try their pizzas, I have a feeling that they're great too.  Their downstairs restaurant, Landini's, is nothing but pizza.

Who Was Roger Revelle?

Every time you see a name on a building, there's and interesting story behind that man or woman.  We recognize many of the names, but more often we don't.  The name Roger Revelle is all over UCSD, but how many of us really know who he was?  I didn't, until I read an article in the UT about some of the important scientists at UCSD and their enormous influence on modern science, especially climate change.

Roger Revelle was instrumental in creating the International Geophysical Year in 1958 and was the first chairman of the Committee on Climate Change.  In 1957 Revelle co-authored a paper with Hans Suess suggesting that the Earth's oceans would absorb excess carbon dioxide generated by man at a much slower rate than previously predicted by geoscientists, thereby suggesting that human gas emissions might create a "greenhouse effect" that would cause global warming over time.  This was almost 60 years ago!

During the 1950's, Revelle fought for the establishment of UCSD.  The UC Board of Regents initially wanted to expand UCLA, but due to the hard work of Revelle and others, UCSD enrolled it's first graduate students in 1960, and it's first undergraduate class in 1964.

Revelle's struggle to acquire land sent him head to head with Jonas Salk, and the animosity lasted the rest of his life.  Ravelle also had to deal with the La Jolla community, that refused to rent or sell property to Jews.  Jonas Salk faced the same discrimination.

Next time you look at the name on a college building, or any building for that matter, remember that that name was also a person, and he or she probably has an interesting story.

Learning To Cook Rissoto

  We began the day with some wine and delicious bruschetta and a tossed green salad.  The first course was followed by two types of risotto:  ragu risotto and radicchio  risotto.  The final course was Italian cookies and espresso coffee.  Wow, what a meal!  I loved the bruschetta, with big chunks of fresh tomato and green olives.  The ragu risotto was my favorite risotto, a mixture of beef and pork in a tomato sauce, blended into the risotto.  After lunch, Fabrizio and chef Rita (speaking in Italian only, with Fabrizio translating), prepared risotto for us, with several Newcomers helping out.

Newcomers offers events for everyone.  This event was just another great day spent with amazing men and women.  It was so much fun sitting at small tables, enjoying an Italian lunch, and getting to know new members.  Will I ever make risotto at home?  Probably not.  Ron doesn't even like risotto, so why would I bother with something so time consuming?  I would, however, make the ragu sauce (easy to do), and pour it over a plate of steaming pasta.  Delicioso!

October 15 in History

History is being made every day,  so when I  read about important events that took place on a particular date, I'm amazed that there isn't something every year.  However, in times gone by, things changed slowly.  Today, every day has a new "first ever."  Here are a few things that happened on October 15, in years past.

1917 Dutch dance Mata Hare was convicted of spying for the Germans, and was executed by a firing squad outside Paris.

1940 Charles Chaplin's first talking comedy, "The Great Dictator," a lampoon of Adolf Hitler, opened in New York.

1945 Vichy leader, Pierre Laval, was executed for treason.

1946 Herman Goering fatally poisoned himself hours before his scheduled execution.

1951 The first episode of I Love Lucy aired on CBS.

1966 The Black Panther Party was founded by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale in Oakland, Ca.

1966 Lyndon Johnson signed a bill creating the U.S. Department of Transportation.

1969 Peace demonstrators staged activities across the country as part of a "moratorium" against the Vietnam War.

1989 LA King hockey player Wayne Gretzky broke Gordie Howe's point record of 1850, in the final period of a game against the Edmonton Oilers.

1990 Mikhail Gorbechov, president of the Soviet Union, received the Nobel Peace Prize.

Stricter Gun Laws WILL Save Lives

I was watching Fareed on CNN this morning, just days after the worst mass shooting in the U.S.  He had on the former prime minister of Australia, who talked about how Australia handled gun control.  When 35 people were killed in a mass shooting in 1996, the government took bold action.  Stricter regulations on obtaining a weapon in the first place, restrictions on the types of guns that could be sold, and a successful buyback program, in which 640,000 guns were turned in by citizens, led to a huge reduction in murder and homicide rates.

The topic of gun control is really not complicated.  Why does anyone object to trying to make sure that only mentally sound individuals are issued a gun license?  Also, why does anyone object to banning assault and semi-automatic rifles?  Is this taking away someone's 2nd ammendment rights?  No, it is making sure that guns are issued to men and women who have the mental ability to use guns responsibly.  Polls show that 76% of the public want more thorough background checks for those trying to buy a gun, yet Congress refuses to act.  Are they that afraid that the NRA is going to target them in the next election?  Apparently so.  Are they putting country first, or are they just thinking about their next election?  We all know the answer.

Go to http://www.factcheck.org/2017/10/gun-control-australia-updated/  and check out this great article by Factcheck.  You will see how laws passed in 1996 (by a conservative government) have led to 21 years without another mass murder, and a murder and homicide rate around 1 per 100,000 people.  We are #1 in the world in gun ownership (almost 300 million guns in the U.S.) and at the top of the list for murder and homicide.  That's not where we want to be, and we must act to change things.

Wokou Ramen and Yakitori

You  won't be disappointed if you try Wokou Restaurant in Carmel Valley.  It is located in the new Pacific Highlands Ranch shopping center and I think you're going to love it.  That is, if you like Asian food, especially ramen, with a few twists.  Vivian, Paula and I  had a wonderful time there recently.  It's not crowded at lunch time, but I hear that dinner is very busy.

The new Pacific Highlands Ranch center is beautiful.  It has Crunch Gym, lots of upscale places to eat, and a few nice retail  shops.  It also has Rite Aid and Trader Joe's in another area of the center.  Crudo and Cucina Allegra are two other restaurants I would like to try in the future, but Wokou is casual and lots of fun.  Here's some of what you might have.

My favorite dish was carnitas bao bao.  For $6.95 you get two carnitas type tacos, served on a bao that is split and filled with delicious carnitas, crystals of sugar, nuts, jalapenos, and pickled onions.  I know, it sounds strange but your taste buds will be delighted.  We also shared an order of the house ramen, filled with pork, mushrooms, half of a perfectly cooked egg, and of course noodles.  The broth was delicious, and if you're so inclined, you can add lots of other veggies to the ramen.  Wokou offers several other types of ramen, and all come in your preferred degree of spice.  Other choices at Wokou include yakitori (meat on a skewer), a noodle dish (without broth), chicken wing, rice bowls, firecracker shrimp roll, pan fried broccoli,  and red quinoa salad.

Ramen restaurants are popping up all over San Diego, and they vary from fair to great.  This was great, as it had several very creative items on the menu.  I wish it was closer to Oceanside, but next time I'm in the Carmel Valley area, I will definitely pop in for lunch.  If you go once, you'll want to try it again.

Men's Sperm Counts Are Down Worldwide

The sperm counts among men in Western countries, including North America, Australia, New Zealand and Europe, have dropped dramatically over the past 40 years.  Sperm counts have dropped 52% in this period, and the continued decline does not appear to be leveling off.

The researchers screened 7,500 men, excluding men who were thought to be infertile, and found the steep decline was in both sperm concentration and total sperm count.  This confirms what researchers have suspected for some time.  The study did not explain why sperm counts might be down, but there are several theories.  Researchers feel that the drop in sperm count is associated with environment and lifestyle factors, including prenatal chemical exposures, adult pesticide exposures, smoking, stress and obesity.

Men living in Western countries for the last four decades have been exposed to new man made chemicals during the course of their lives, and there is more and more evidence that chemicals hurt their reproductive function. Until further research gives us definite answers, men can live a healthier life by reducing stress, not smoking, staying physically active, and eating a diet free from chemicals and additives.  For now, the reduction in sperm count in men in the Western world has not affected conception.  However, scientists will have to figure out why Western men have lower sperm counts, or birth rates may suffer in the future.  For now, there's plenty of sperm to get the job done.

The Aging Brain

I just finished viewing the first of a 12 part series on the aging brain.  The DVD was packed with valuable information.  Most importantly, I learned that after age 20, it's all down hill.  Your cognitive functions begin to deteriorate.  I'm not  going to quote the statistics because they differ depending on the type of study done, but generally speaking, brain function diminishes over time, subtly, a little bit at a time.  You don't usually wake up one day and realize you no longer remember phone numbers or how to do something.  Everything slows as we age.  You move slower, you process information slower, you talk slower, you probably need more repetition to learn new tasks too.

Some functions, however, stay the same or may even improve.  Crystallized intelligence (how to skills and accumulated knowledge) include working crossword puzzle or other games that rely on accumulated knowledge stay the same.  You simply know more at 80 than you did at 40, you will do better on tasks that rely on your lifetime of accumulating knowledge.  The kinds of thing that diminish as we age are learning a new language or learning to operate tech equipment, where we have no background.  It's going to take much longer to learn these kinds of things.

There are things we can do to improve brain function as we age.  Here are just a few tips.

1.  Use it or lose it, keep your brain active.
2.  Keep your brain in regular, vigorous use.
3.  Engage in new activities.  Take up painting, dancing, bridge or become a tutor.  The possibilities are endless.

4.  Do crossword puzzles, word games, or cards to strengthen the synapses between brain cells in memory transmission areas.
  Do some sort of physical activity.  Exercise can increase mental abilities 20% to 30%.
6.  Journal writing and working with your hands can help too.
7.  Spend time in the company of family and friends.  The older brain thrives on social contact.

Read the book The Blue Zone.  This book describes the six world zones where people live the longest, and what that do that we don't do.  I read it years ago and it profoundly affected my view of growing old.  The later years of life can be, with a little bit of luck, the very best.  Try to keep your body and mind healthy and you will stay active for years to come.

How Much Trash Do You Produce?

The average American produces 4 1/2 pounds of trash per day.  Multiply that by 350 million people, and you can see that we produce an unimaginable amount of trash.  Yet, we're not the worst country.  Mexico produces about 30% more per person, and at the rate China is going, they will soon overtake us all

Typically, wealthy countries produce more trash than poorer nations, but as developing countries become wealthier and adopt higher standards of living, they're following our wasteful lead.  In 2025, China will be producing 562 million tons of solid waste per year, according to World Bank Estimates-almost three times the current output.

You can tell alot about a society by the amount of paper waste it produces.  According to the World Bank statistics, trash composition varies dramatically across countries of different income levels.  Poor countries have a high proportion of organic waste from food scraps and grass clippings.  Paper, on the other hand, is the single largest component of waste in high income countries.  About one-third of the paper waste in the U.S. comes from the corrugated cardboard boxes in which nearly everything we buy gets packaged and shipped.

The good news is that a lot of the paper trash in our country is recycled.  About 62% of paper is recycled or composted, but falls short of the 86% that we could theoretically reach.

Bottom line, recycling alone won't solve our trash problems.  Remember to reduce, reuse and recycle.  You may see your recycle bin reduced a  lot.  My goal is to put my recycle bin out for collection once a month.  Right now, I put it out every two weeks.  I"ve got a long way to go.

You Never Know What You've Got Until It's Gone

My community has patrol guards at both the front and back gate.  Having a guard there all the time at the front gate, and most of the time at the back gate, makes people feel safe and secure.  I come in the back gate most of the time, give a wave or a short greeting to my favorite guard, Louis, who was a fixture there most evenings  for years.  One day I noticed Louis was not there.  I thought he was just on vacation, and would be back in a week or so, but time went by, and Louis did not return.  I missed his smiling face, his greeting by name, and short conversation.  He made my day happier, just by a short wave and a smile.  I did some investigation and found that he was sick and would not return, if ever, for a few months.  A new guard replaced Louis.  He also waved to everyone, but he wasn't Louis.  While Louis was gone, all the guards learned what a fine employee Louis was, and how he made each and every resident feel special.  All the guards took Louis' lead, and started waving and smiling to residents.  This was much appreciated by residents, and has made all of the employees better.

About two weeks ago, I drove up to the back gate and noticed a bunch of balloons saying "Welcome Back," tied to a tree.  They were for Louis, who was finally back where he belonged.  50 pounds thinner, with a big smile on his face, and wave of his hand, our Louis was home.  We're so happy to have him back.  He makes everyone's day a little happier, and has made all the guards in Ocean Hills better employees.  It's amazing how one man can change the world!

I Finally Found The Kebab Shop

I can't believe it took me so long to discover the Kebab Shop, a small chain of Middle Eastern restaurants in San Diego, and a few more in the Bay Area.  I have lunch about once a month with Audrey, a friend I met at the Y years ago.  She is a vegan, so we try to find restaurants that will be suitable for both of us.  The Kebab Shop in Encinitas was perfect.  It's a great for vegan, vegetarian or regular carnivores.  They have lots of kebabs, like shrimp, chicken and steak.  They have also have vegetarian kebabs and falafel.  We both ate a vegan meal.

For $9 you can pick three salads, which are served with plenty of pita bread.  I had the tabouli, hummus and cucumber dill salad.  They have a garlic mayo, similar to tzadiki, which you can spread on pita or dip veggies into.  Everything was delicious and voluminous.  Audrey had hummus, lentil and walnut salad and cucumber dill salad.  I had a piece of baklava for dessert.  It was a delicious lunch, and for heartier eaters you can get a wrap, a sandwich or a plate, with rice and fries.  Their motto is "Crave change," at Kebab Shop.  That refers to the fact that you can get so many different items, so many different ways.  They make a wrap (burrito) that reminds me of what you get at Chipotle.  It's filled with lettuce, tomatoes, falafel or meat and any extras you want.  If you're a big eater, the wrap is for you.

The Kebab Shop is not fine dining, but the food is delicious.  It's a small restaurant with inside and outside seating, good food and a clean environment.  Next time you feel like a taste of the Middle East, try the Kebab Shop.  Check their website for one of their many locations in San Diego.