Santa Cruz

Melanie has been taking a few vacation days, so we can do fun family stuff. Today we went to Santa Cruz, which is sort of home, in a way that I can say that knowing full well that I will never live there again. I really liked most of my six years in Santa Cruz, but saw the writing on the wall. If I stayed there another month, it would have morphed into a life sentence. At some point you have to leave the beach or become one of the beach people.

I knew and still know a lot of good folks in Santa Cruz, but for awhile it seemed like I was mostly encountering the flakes and weirdos, which would be fine if they were interesting flakes and weirdos. Unfortunately most flakes and weirdos are not that interesting. Aging hippies involved in pyramid schemes selling blue-green algae. Aspiring hippies just learning the ropes of attempting to buy one's way out of consumerism. Talented artists running themselves into the ground with increasingly dull work, inspired by the never-ceasing back slapping of the perma-grin sorts. People who are "spiritual but not religious." And the petitions. Oh those dreaded petitions.

"Excuse me. Are you registered to vote in Santa Cruz County?"

"No. I hate democracy. Go away, Stinky."

I still have petitions to avoid, but the level of kook in the Bay Area is much higher than the level of kook in Santa Cruz.

"Impeach Clinton! 12 Galaxies United in Zegnotronic..."

If you know what that means, then you are truly among the Bay Areans.

For awhile I tried to avoid Santa Cruz, because it is not a good idea for a rocket to hang around in low orbit when trying to maintain escape velocity. However, the temptation is mostly gone, so we go back now and again, mostly to visit friends, but also because it really is a beautiful place.

Today we actually spent very little time in Santa Cruz. We picked up our friends and headed down to the Monterrey Bay Aquarium to see the great white shark in captivity. I like the Monterrey Bay Aquarium when it does what it does well, which is to showcase the flora and fauna of the local coast. It tends to do a good job of explaining the ecosystem and the various zones that make up the ocean there. They do it with a spectacular collection.

What I can do without is the heavy-handed eco-preaching, especially when it presents positions that are disputed even within the eco-creep community as absolutes. For example: we need to relieve pressure on bluefin tuna fisheries (OK, true, but why am I to accept the figures they present as to how much we need to reduce the bluefin haul? They don't present any evidence or hard numbers here), so we should eat farmed fish instead of wild bluefin tuna.

Alright. That is a possible solution, but there are many smart cookies out there who point out that aquaculture is not ideal either. Why is that position not shown? Instead we are told in the "What can you do?" sermon at the end of each exhibit to follow their guidlines (without a shred of the reasoning behind the specifics) and to "support conservation organizations." I looked at their list, and, in fairness, they do not seem to have a lot of the really bad ones. However, they build no case for these organizations beyond the most flagrant generalities (they work to keep oceans clean -- very well, but how? Do they pick up trash on the beach? Do they lobby for strange and immoral legislation? Do they do careful monitoring of oceanic conditions?). Some of these details are given, but not always. We are just to assume that since the good folks at the aquarium said it, it must be true.

At least they don't have anything as bad as what the Oakland Zoo tells us to do to help elephants: "support population control efforts at home and abroad." Whenever I encounter that sign, it makes me want to carve goblets out of ivory to drink a daily glass of elephant blood out of.

Also, the Monterrey Bay Aquarium does not push vegetarianism, but admits that eating seafood is a good thing for the most part (as long as you stick to the choices on their list). They also don't go too much into the bizarre tangential realm of ecofreakishness.

Anyway, the long and short of it is that we missed both the A's game as well as the debate. It sounds like we missed a good game, but seeing huge tuna in the outer bay tank is something spectacular.

Speaking of ecocranks, I am further miffed at our Governor von Kennedy, who signed the awful, John Burton-hatched law to ban foie gras production in California. What it means is that I will have to somehow get ahold of a place to raise geese and will have to learn how to produce the stuff myself for private consumption.