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Strolling along with the dog, I saw a parking enforcement worker stop in the middle of the street. There was a truck parked next to a fire hydrant. He went over to feel the paint in the red zone, and the dog crept over to be patted.

Later on the walk I saw a couple of poodle owners I know, one just back from a tour of the Baltic, and one giving her Bison Frisee the morning walk just before work. I asked them if they knew anything about what we all think was a big drug bust up the block last week, but hadn't heard anything yet.

This morning the dog just wouldn't get up. I had to walk the first mile solo, reading from Michael Jackson's book on software problem analysis. Fun!

During the second mile, this time with the dog, I remembered a sign I saw on a car for sale in the neighborhood. "$875 or laptop or digital camera". I've seen "Best Offer or trade," but never anything that specific. And it's the first time I've seen the explicit connection between travelling by computer and travelling by car.

By the way, I recommend Problem Frames [buy at amazon] . by Michael Jackson

Looking out onto the dawn horizon, I see that one of the pumps in the oilfield has stopped pumping. It looks like there's a drilling rig out there – actually a couple of drilling rigs – and there are a lot of trucks driving around out on the hilltop.

The great thing about petroleum power, as opposed to nuclear power, is that you can't turn it into weapons of mass destruction. Not counting chemical weapons, of course, or aviation jet fuel, and again excepting napalm (jellied gasoline).

It's funny, when I search on amazon for 'Big Oil' nearly the only book that turns up is Amazon Stranger: A rainforest chief battles Big Oil [buy at amazon] . by Mike Tidwell. (there's also a nice link on how to stop deforestation caused by oil drilling in the rainforest, an animated map zooming in on the area of concern)

But I like seeing the oilwells on the horizon as the golden sun lights up the room. I like to think of the oil pumped out every day by one of those pumps eventually (after being refined) powering a bus here in Los Angeles for a week and a half. It might be out of balance, but it's still a blow for self sufficiency.

Cruising around the morning walk circuit I dropped the NetFlix DVDs in the mailbox. Didn't notice any garbage on the streets, didn't get run down. A crossing guard was protecting children as they crossed the street.

The first crossing guard I ever remember was at the GrandView School in Ogden, Utah, where I attended sixth grade. Oh, boy what they could have done with even half a million dollars there. I remember going to a film shown in the school, "Our Mr. Sun." I could have been mastering algebra and plane geometry instead of taking clerical tests in how fast you could add a sheet of numbers and listening to our teacher, Mr. Johns, read to us from a book of volcanology adventurers.

The whole school could have taken judo lessons, instead of just one student with the unlikely name of Lant Barney.

Actually, the volcano stories were pretty nifty. But I remember another test of clerical speed. We were simply supposed to copy a list of numbers from one page to another.

Continuing on in the same vein, what would it have been like if MY school had an extra one million thirty-five thousand dollars to spend when I was there? Take for example the Madison School in Hinsdale, Illinois, where I attended kindergarten and first grade.

At the time, it was a pretty new neighborhood, still being populated by baby boomers after the war. There was a lot of construction, but of course there isn't now. I remember lying on my back looking up at the clouds and making the incredible discover — the earth is moving! Why doesn't anyone else notice this?

Just think, with a million extra to spend, my school could have financed summer (or even school-year) field trips to take everyone to the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. My parents took me, but not everyone got to go there. The school could have afforded rubber coverings for the monkey bars so I wouldn't have cut my lip when I slipped while playing.

Even better, they could have hired another couple of teachers for the different reading groups they had in kindergarten. I know a million thirty-five sure would have been nice for the Madison School.

An unwelcome addition to a morning walk (last week) on the Michigan beach: a multitude of little striped shells. Sighting the occasional bivalve shell used to be a rarity, but now that Zebra Mussels have invaded drains and pipes in the Great Lakes, clumps of shells are common along the sandy beach. A conventional view is that opening the Great Lakes to ocean traffic via the St. Lawrence Seaway was a shortsighted eco-disaster that when the final audit is done will wind up being a net loss to the region. Consider however..

Wasn't it inevitable? The following excerpt from The Zebra Mussel Page, gives big-picture insight into the matter:

We are rapidly heading towards a one-world homogeneous ecosystem, with associated loss of species diversity. Rapid transportation, habitat destruction (including by introduced species, whether accidentally or on purpose), etc. are a disaster for many species. So the different continents are becoming more similar in their flora and fauna. It's not a new process. It has happened time and again during geological history, but people have accelarated the rate at which this process can occur.

Basically it's a question of pacing, then. If we want to hurry the disaster along, then we should just proceed with development thoughtlessly, and bear whatever costs may come. Economize on care, and let the old saw apply: "if you think education is expensive, just try ignorance."

Actually, it's not just the zebra mussel (which has become a problem far beyond the Great Lakes, also infesting the Mississippi and Missouri river systems.) According to The University of Wisconsin Sea Grant program: An estimated 130 nonindigenous species have been introduced to the Great Lakes, most of them arriving since the St. Lawrence Seaway opened in 1959. Several of these species -- including the sea lamprey, alewife, smelt, carp and milfoil -- have contributed to massive changes in Great Lakes fish and plant communities.

The sea lamprey with its icky mouth of concentric teeth wreaked havoc with the sport fish population, latching onto big game fish and sucking them dry. And to anyone who has raked up mountains of rotting alewives, or seen the hopeless spectacle of bulldozers burying the teeming alewive stench under piles of sand so the family can have a nice beach picnic, it should come as no surprise that The Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation makes no mention whatsoever of nonindigenous species in its Economic Impact Study of the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway System

Fortunately the beach is a lot nicer this year, and with Lake Michigan at a low level, there's more beach to enjoy. Too bad I'm in California right now.