Laotian Papaya Salad - Don't Eat Those Fingers Like They're Just Another Meal

A New Day and New Season Dawn on Wrigley

In Other Evolutionary News

For some reason this jalapeño has been turning color in sympathy with this habeñero.

Mr. Market - 120 Hours

Mr. Market - 96 Hours

Mr. Market - 72 Hours

Mr. Market - 48 Hours

Mr. Market's full growth can't come fast enough. After today's debacle in the Cotton Market I need to spear Mr. Market through his small (growing) cold black heart.

Mr. Market - 24 Hours

Here is the Grow Your Own Voodoo doll after 24 hrs.He/she seems to be a little top heavy in the glass.

The Evidence Continues to Mount

It's a record year for snowfall

BY DAVID JESSE

The Ann Arbor News

It's just as you suspected - this has been the snowiest winter ever in the Ann Arbor area, or at least since 1880 when record-keeping started.

And it's not over yet.

That's because we're not even into April, a month that normally averages almost 2.5 inches of that pesky white stuff.

If this winter continues the way it's been going, we could be in store for more than that.

Consider this month.

Normally in March, we get about 8.3 inches of snow, said Dennis Kahlbaum, a University of Michigan weather observer. So far in March, with more than a week to go, we've seen 16.7 inches of fluffy precipitation.

A good chunk of that came Friday night and early Saturday morning.

The storm - a narrow band across southern Michigan - dropped 7.5 inches of snow in Ann Arbor, Kahlbaum said.

That was enough to send this winter into the record books and shove the 2004-05 winter aside.

In 2004-05, 83.9 inches of snow fell. This year, we're sitting at 85 inches.
That's a lot of shoveling.

"It seems like I've shoveled a lot this year," said Tori Williamson, 49, who was in front of her Ypsilanti home Saturday. "I've always been fine with shoveling, but now I'm thinking about a snowblower for next winter."

David Jesse can be reached at djesse@annarbornews.com or at 734-994-6937.

I'm a Total Copycat

I have been so impressed by the Growing Alligator experiment by the Boy Family Rules that I felt the need to conduct my own growing experiment. There's one place in Chicago where I was confident they would have Chinese made toxic sponge rubber products that would grow 600% when left in water. I was not disappointed. Uncle Fun had a whole rack of such items. Among the growing items I had to choose from were; growing hands, brains, therapists, men, women, pinatas, lizards, geeks, flamingos, and voodoo dolls (complete with pins).

I had to go with the voodoo doll.

This experiment with "Mr. Market" is now under way.


I felt compelled to name him before fully grown to get the maximum hex effect.


Check back on Mr. Market's progress.

Some Advice Before Gathering With the Family for Easter

My New Favorite Food Additive

Walked over to the African market today to pick up the tomatoes we needed for our chili. As I was standing at the checkout with three habaneros and two cans of tomatoes I came across this little item of pure pepper bliss.



The label on the back mentions that this powder is 10 times hotter than fresh habaneros. When a Jamaican food company uses the words Very Hot on the label you know you're in for a mouth searing good time.

The Prince formerly known as Artist has Spoken

I always thought there was something fishy, dare I say Frenchy, about Prince Charles. First there was the nose, which I unfortunately share. Why I was stuck with a French nose and small English feet I'll never know. Then there was the hot wife he had. We don't even need to go there.

Now there's this, which seals the deal in my book. He's French through and through:

Prince: Global effort needed to counter climate change

Sheer madness.

That's how Prince Charles described skeptics who view calls for rapid action to counter climate change as overstated or completely invented.

"Unfathomably however, there still seem to be some climbing skeptics, those who view the case of rapid action to counter climate change is overstated or indeed completely invented," he added.

"If I may speak plainly among friends, this is sheer madness. The scientific facts are as plain as they are alarming. Worryingly in the last few months we have learnt that the North Polar ice cap is melting so fast that some scientists are predicting that in seven years it will completely disappear in summer."

Puhlease. Count me as a mad "climbing skeptic." Better to be able to grow more crops because of warming than fewer because of permafrost. Commodities are already at all time highs. Imagine how much they'll be when we can't till the soil.

And Yet Another Global Cooling Headline

From Bloomberg:
Sydney's Coolest Summer in 50 Years Leaves Empty Cafes, Gloom

By Shani Raja and Simeon Bennett

March 5 (Bloomberg) -- Sydney residents and tourists are cursing La Nina as the harbor city says goodbye to the summer that wasn't.

While the La Nina weather pattern is delivering rain to farmers after the worst drought in a century, it's cutting profits for cafe owners, travel agents and insurers. Insurance Australia Group Ltd., the nation's largest home insurer, last week posted a sixth straight profit decline after hail storms cost it A$105 million ($97 million). The yearly `Symphony in the Park,' which usually attracts 80,000 people, had 700 this year as the orchestra played behind a tarpaulin during a downpour.

``Everyone always thinks Australia is the best place for perfect weather, but I'm not sure I'll believe it any more,'' says Minsoo Seo, a 28-year-old marketing executive from Korea's Jeju Island, as he gazes at the waves crashing toward Bondi Beach on Australia's last day of summer. ``The wind's too strong,'' he says after deciding against surfing on a grey, gusty morning.

After four years of water restrictions, Sydney saw about 50 percent more rain than usual this summer, according to Mike De Salis, a spokesman at Australia's Bureau of Meteorology.

No day topped 31 degrees celsius (88 degrees fahrenheit) for the first time since 1956. Average daily sunshine totaled 6.7 hours, an hour less than normal and the lowest since 1991-92. The average maximum temperature was 25.2, the coolest since 1996-97.

``Suddenly we get one cool, wet summer and everyone's complaining,'' said De Salis.

Matthew Hassan, an economist at Westpac Banking Corp., said the soggy summer has weighed on Sydney's $285 billion economy.

``The endless rain is certainly adding to the sense of gloom,'' Hassan said. Employment and housing data show Sydney is already struggling with rising interest rates and gasoline prices.

More Rain

Surfer Seo's contribution to the tourism industry -- and the local economy -- will soon end. Seo is cutting his three-month Sydney stay short by a month because of the rain, which is forecast to remain for at least three months, according to the meteorology bureau.

La Nina, which means ``little girl'' in Spanish, is created by the cooling of the central and eastern Pacific Ocean. It's the opposite of El Nino, or ``little boy,'' which can cause drought.

Dam levels rose to 64.4 percent at the end of February from 37.1 percent a year ago. Rain fall reached 439 millimeters this summer, compared with an average of 298 millimeters.

``We're not whinging about the rain,'' said Ben Fargaher, chief executive officer of the National Farmers' Federation in Canberra, Australia's capital city. ``Good living weather is not good farming weather.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Shani Raja in Sydney at Sraja4@bloomberg.netSimeon Bennett in Singapore on Sbennett9@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: March 4, 2008 16:17 EST

Chicago's Dubious Distinction - Highest Taxed in US

Chicago, IL. --

A drink at the bar, a fast-food meal and back-to-school shopping are among those things about to get a bit more expensive in Cook County.

Early Saturday, Cook County Board President Todd Stroger struck a deal with board members, who approved a 1 percent increase in the sales tax - driving Chicago's overall sales tax to double digits at 10.25 percent, easily among the highest of any big city.

And it will be enacted just in time for the Christmas shopping season.

This on top of the 88 new taxes and fees that went into effect as of January 1st.