Good morning and welcome to westside story. On Wednesday we checked out a spectacular sunrise over the Pacific at Lighthouse Point. Today we are again blasting back to the past and heading a couple miles up the coast to Natural Bridges State Beach. These are a couple of never seen before sunsets that I thought would be a good way to close out the week. Then again, I thought the Lakers winning game 4 and tying up the NBA Finals would be a good way to finish off the week but I guess the Celtics had another idea.

We’ve been talking food this week here on the blog. Well, when it comes to healthy vegetables, my personal favorite and the numero uno choice of Americans is the proud potato. Mashed, baked, scalloped, roasted, french fried, au gratin, no matter which way you serve it, I find them all to be very apeeling. These taters tots are included in one of every three meals that Americans eat. But where did these carbohydrate cloggers first set down their roots? The origin of the potato has become, a “hot potato” between neighbors Peru and Chile. The spud dispute began last Monday, when Chilean Agriculture Minister Marigen Hornkohl said 99% of the world’s potatoes derive from spuds native to Chile and that “you cannot petition the Lord with prayer.”

Peru, where the potato and llama races are a source of national pride, bristled at the claim and said that these spuds come from a part of the Andes near Lake Titicaca, most of which is located in modern-day Peru. The country claims to have some 3,000 varieties of potato, all of which can be made into french, steak and seasoned curly fries. And by the way, who named Lake Titicaca? Howard Stern?

The spud dispute is just the latest flare-up between the testy neighbors. The one previous to this was which nation actually coined the term “peasant.” This new, simmering, so-called “Pisco War” flared up again when Peru’s agriculture minister called Chilean Pisco “bad,” after Chile declared May 15 “National Pisco Day.” This is not to be confused with “Joe Piscopo Day.” Now both nations are fighting over bragging rights to the potato and who receives the next major earthquake.

Andres Contreras, a researcher at Chile’s Austral University in Valdivia, said archaeological studies have found the first evidence of human consumption of potatoes dating back 14,000 years in southern Chile, right before the discovery of ketchup. This would be long before evidence emerges of spud consumption in Peru, which also claims bragging rights to Peruvian lilies, Peruvian marching powder and Shining Path rebels.

Now this is where things gets starchy. The head of Peru’s National Institute for Agricultural Innovation, Juan Risi, called Chile’s potatoes mere “grandchildren” of Peru’s tubers. “Peruvian potatoes that originated near lake Titicaca are the true potatoes, and their children spread throughout the Andes,” Risi said. And we all know that the children shall lead us. But who even knew that potatoes were sexually active?

Experts say the disputes reflect lingering historical tensions between the Amos and Andean neighbors. The disputes are “a very superficial manifestation of this ongoing concern of national pride and wounded feelings over various problems in the past,” said David Scott Palmer, a professor of Latin American politics and American policy at Boston University. I believe the professor is referring to soccer matches, border disputes and the origin of “chili fries.” Bottom line, it sounds to me like both nations have a potato chip on their shoulder.

That’s it for another week of blogging with the stars. So happy Father’s Day to all you well-deserving males out there who put time in with your children to make this world a better place. And on a personal note, here’s wishing my father, Daniel Gilbert, a Happy Father’s Day. 91 years old, living in Santa Cruz and still going somewhat strong. Unbelievable. They say every American eats about 126 pounds of potatoes every year and he is definitely one of them. And remember, while you’re reading this people are worried about losing their homes in the Bonnie Dune fire so try not to sweat the small stuff. So have a great holiday weekend, enjoy the sunset cruz and we’ll take a look at that raging fire on Monday. Later, aloha fans.

Greetings and welcome to the light side, photo lovers. Santa Cruz, California is known for its world class sunsets. But being an early riser, I’m partial to its world class sunrises, which are not quite as popular and seen but just a lucky few. That’s where this site steps up to the plate. I’ve been photo blogging since last August but have been digitally involved since 2005. So I think it’s only right that we sometimes go back into the time tunnel and take a look at some pasterpieces that have never seen the light of the blog day.

This little jewel is a sunrise from back in 2006. It was a spectacular morning with an incredible array of colors down at Lighthouse Point. As you can see from the first shot, my dog dug this early morning light show and insisted I name this shot “Golden Dreams.” Much like my Freudian therapist, once she gets her mind set on something there’s no changing it. Anyway, throughout the summer (no pun intended) we’ll be revisiting the past to check on the magic and magnificence of yester year. Or to quote Ralph Kramden of
“The Honeymooners” to his wife Alice, “You can’t put your arm around a memory.” Replied Alice, “I can’t even put my arm around you.”

Now Ralph Kramden was a guy who liked to eat. Which brings us to our subject du jour. According to a government study, Americans today waste an astounding 27 percent of food available for consumption. It happens at the supermarket, in restaurants, taco bars, vegan buffets and in very own kitchen. A federal study found that 96.4 billion pounds of edible food was wasted by U.S. retailers, food service businesses, consumers and Hollywood caterers in 1995. That’s about 1 pound of waste per day for every adult, child and sumo wrestler in the nation. And that doesn’t count food lost on farms, by processors, wholesalers or in my Scooby Doo lunch box.

Grocery stores discard products because of spoilage, minor blemishes and dedicated shoplifters. Restaurants throw out what they don’t use. And consumers toss out everything from bananas that have turned brown to Chinese leftovers to that brie cheese that’s turning moldier than Napoleon’s troops at Waterloo. In 1997, in one of the few studies of food waste, the Department of Agriculture said that 96.4 billion pounds of the 356 billion pounds of edible food in the United States was never eaten. Fresh produce, milk, grain products, sweeteners and Pringles make up two-thirds of the waste. Dick Cheney and Halliburton make up the rest.

The study didn’t account for the explosion of ready-to-eat foods now available in supermarkets. We’re talking rotisserie chickens, macaroni and cheese and potato wedges the size of Gary Coleman. A more recent study by the Environmental Protection Agency estimated that Americans generate roughly 39 million tons of waste each year. This is about 12 percent of the total waste stream where ironically I do most of my fly fishing. All but 2 percent of the food ends up in landfills. This rotting food produces methane, a major source of greenhouse gas that is giving carbon dioxide a run for the money at the pump.

America’s Second Harvest, the Nation’s Food Bank Network, reports that donations of food are down 9 percent but the number of people showing up has increased by 20 percent. In England, a recent study revealed that Britons toss away a third of the food they purchase. This includes more than 4 million apples, 1.2 millions sausages, 2.8 million tomatoes and a 7.5 million English muffins. In Sweden, families with small children threw out about a quarter of the food they bought not including Swedish pancakes, Swedish
meatballs and an assortment of Danish.

Eliminating food waste won’t solve the problem of world hunger, greenhouse gas pollution or the lack of quality sitcoms on network TV. But the Department of Agriculture estimated that recovering just 5 percent of that food that is wasted could feed four million people a day. Recovering 25 percent would feed 20 million people. That’s a lot of hungry people and there is nothing funny about hunger. Now the country of Hungary, that’s a different story.

There are efforts to cut down on the amount of food people pile on their plates. A handful of restaurants are offering smaller portions on bigger plates. And a growing number of college cafeterias, after viewing the John Belushi led food fight in “Animal House,” have eliminated trays, meaning students have to carry their food to the table rather than loading up a tray. Next to go are knives, forks and straws. The biggest problem for people fighting the food waste problem is the attitude, “Why should I care? I paid for it.” I believe the rising prices of food are the answer to that. Then again, obesity doesn’t grow on trees.

So that’s it for another Wednesday experience. Tune in again on Friday for our Father’s Day tribute. So enjoy the color and remember to think about what you might be able to do to help make this world be a less hungry place. And congratulations to Kobe Bryant and the Lakers for beating the Celtics on Tuesday night and hopefully turning the NBA Finals into an event worth watching, or at least TiVoing. Good night and good luck, Yankee fans.

Good morning and welcome to our Friday edition of Sunrise Santa Cruz. Today we are featuring a late May sunset as the western sky glowed while changing into various shades of spring delight. There’s not usually much action around this time of year so I’m happy when any color appears on the horizon or a book comes out written by the president’s former press secretary bashing Mr. Bush and company. It’s good to know that there’s some light at the end of the tunnel and it’s flashing Barack Obama.

I snapped the last two photos early on Sunday morning. I was filling my parent’s trout pond on their estate next to Natural Bridges when who do I see strolling up the street but a juvenile bobcat. He eyed me, ducked into the bushes and then came back out and continued towards me and my bomb-sniffing golden retriever Summer. Before you could say “Hillary concedes” I grabbed my camera and starting shooting like Kobe Bryant at crunch time. This must be bobcat season because they seem to be popping up everywhere. What I would really love to see is a mountain lion because that is one beautiful animal that is native to our area. Or a unicorn.

On to the breaking news of the day. Egypt plans to conduct a DNA test on a 3,500-year-old mummy to determine whether it is King Thutmose 1, one of the country’s most important pharaohs. A DNA test and X-ray will carried out at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo by a group of chiropractors on a mummy found at the site of ancient Thiebes on the west bank of the Nile, what it today Luxor’s Valley of the Kings. Turns out a mummy on display in the Egyptian Museum that was purported to be Thutmose 1 is not actually the ancient ruler’s remains. This harkens me back to the 1939 Three Stooges comedy short “We Want Our Mummy” when those classic words are uttered, “That’s not King Rootin-Tootin, that’s Queen Hotsie-Totsie.”

Thutmose 1 was the third pharaoh of Egypt’s 18th dynasty of pharaohs. His purple reign is generally dated from 1506 to 1493 B.C. He was succeeded by his son Thumose II, who in turn was succeeded by Thutmose II sister, Hatshepsut, ancient Egypt’s most powerful female pharaoh behind Pharaoh Fawcett.

Egypt has acquired a $5 million DNA lab, funded by the Discovery Channel and Comedy Central, which has become a centerpiece of an ambitious plan to identify mummies and re-examine the royal mummy collection. The best way to obtain accurate results is from the DNA found in a cell’s nucleus because it contains information from both parents. But mummy DNA is usually so deteriorated that the chances of finding usable nuclear DNA are slim and none of those mummies are talking.

There is some secrecy surrounding Egypt’s DNA testing. Zahi Hawass, the head of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities and a damn fine yahtzee player, has long refused to allow DNA testing on Egyptian mummies but accepted it recently on the condition that it would only be done by Egyptian experts in a room shaped like a pyramid. He has never disclosed full results of previous mummy examinations on grounds of national security. Hawass has never explained the reasons for this, apparently concerned that the tests could cast doubt on the Egyptian lineage of the mummies and to protect the privacy of the mummies’ families. I think everyone out there can relate to this story because after all, who doesn’t love their mummy?

So that’s it for our feel good story of the week. If you like eggs, and what bacon eating, hash brown and toast loving American doesn’t, then you’ll want to check out the blog coming up on Monday. So have a fabulous sports weekend and enjoy game 2 of the NBA Finals on Sunday. Game 1 to Paul Pierce and the Celtics. And remember to always to give help from the weak side. Aloha, Laker fans.

Good morning, bird lovers. Aviary week continues as today we venture to the remaining arch at Natural Bridges State Beach. I dropped in early Wednesday morning and the rock was front loaded with my favorite bird besides Larry. I love these prehistoric looking creatures with New York Giant wingspans. The first shot sets up our location along West Cliff Drive and the last shot is from a stormy day last winter when the pelicans and the cormorants were huddled closer together than Barack Obama’s super delegates.

Here are a couple of stories that caught my wandering eye this week and the first is right up bird alley. When Yosuke the parrot flew out of his cage and got lost, he did exactly what he had been taught — recite his name, address, rank and serial number to a stranger willing to help. Police rescued the African grey parrot two weeks ago from a neighbor’s roof in the city of Nagareyama, near Tokyo. After being read his rights and grilled by detectives all night at the police station, he was transferred to a nearby veterinary hospital while police contacted Interpol and searched for clues, local policeman Shinjiro Uemura said.

He kept mum with the cops, but began chatting after a few days with the vet. “I’m Mr. Yosuke Nakamura,” the bird told the veterinarian. The parrot also provided his full home address, down to the street number, and even entertained the hospital staff by singing songs, which included an some early Motown, Ted Nugent and a medley of Barry Manilow hits.

“We checked the address, and what do you know, a Nakamura family really lived there. So we told them we’ve found Yosuke,” Uemura said. The Nakamura family told police they had been teaching the bird its name, address and how to play the accordian for about two years.

But Yosuke apparently wasn’t keen on opening up to police officials. “I tried to be friendly and talked to him, but he completely ignored me,” Uemura said. Later, the bird said he had been denied counsel, sleep and bird seed and was not read his rights. He has been contacted by local animal rights groups and a law suit is pending.

Speaking of animals in the slammer, a donkey is doing time in southern Mexico for assault and battery. The animal was locked up at a local jail that normally holds people for public drunkenness and other disturbances after it bit and kicked two men near a ranch in Chiapas state, police said Monday. The animal claims he kicked the two gents in self-defense.

Officer Sinar Gomez said the donkey will remain behind bars until its owner agrees to pay the men’s medical bills. “Around here, if someone commits a crime they are jailed,” Gomez said, “no matter who they are.” When officer Gomez was asked if the donkey understood the charges against him, he said the beast refused to answer and was acting as stubborn as a mule.

The owner, Mauro Gutierrez, told The Associated Press he would try to reach a friendly arrangement to pay the men’s bills, estimated at $420. The victims said the donkey bit Genaro Vazquez, 63, in the chest on Sunday and then kicked 52-year-old Andres Hernandez as he tried to come to the rescue, fracturing his ankle. “All of a sudden, the animal was on top of us like it was rabid,” Hernandez said. The donkey claims he acted alone and no rabbits were involved. Police said it took a half-dozen men, a female dispatcher and a tortilla salesman to control the enraged burro.

Chiapas police have thrown animals in the slammer before, including a bull that devoured corn crops and destroyed two wooden vending stands in March. The bull later claimed the machines took his money without giving him the Red Bull that he paid for along with a package of Peanut M & M’s. In 2006, a dog was locked up for 12 days after biting someone. His owners were fined $18 and forced to watch old Freddie Prinze “Chico and the Man” episodes.

That will do it for bird week here at Sunrise Santa Cruz. In honor of holiday weekend and the NBA conference finals we’ll take Monday off but we’ll come back strong for Wednesday. And birthday wishes go out on Sunday to my lovely wife Allison who once said to me, “You love basketball more than you love me.” And I replied, “Yes, but I love you more than football or baseball.” As I’ve said before, I guess I’m just a hopeless romantic. So have a great Memorial Day weekend and remember while you’re watching games and barbecuing our troops are still in danger in Iraq and Afghanistan. So don’t sweat the small stuff and count your blessings. And don’t take your good health for granted. Most of us are way ahead in a game where the final score doesn’t matter. Enjoy the pelicans. Later, sports fans.

Greetings and welcome to Monterey Bay. Every morning when my golden retriever Summer takes me for a walk along West Cliff Drive I am amazed by the exotic marine action and think to myself, “Lucky I live Santa Cruz.” The past few weeks not an Alonzo morning has gone by when I haven’t seen gray whales spouting as they cruise up the coast. Last week they were joined by dolphins followed by dozen’s of Dall’s porpoises that put on aerial show that would have had NBA fans buzzing. This central coast spectacle is the Broadway show that never closes. And you don’t have to charter a whale watching boat to catch the action. Just keep your eyes on the water and your hands upon the wheel.

I like to start off each month with a bang and today will not be an exception. Two weeks ago Sunday I saw the clouds lining up in a nice spread formation so I put on my PF Flyers and headed up the coast to Davenport. I love this spot along the cliffs where the Monterey Cypress trees come to rest. The clouds were oozing color in all directions as a warm breeze blew softly in my face. I knew at that exact moment that this was the place where I was supposed to be. As I gazed out over the vast blue Pacific a feeling of calm and tranquility came over my like a swarm of friendly locusts. And at that moment one thought filled my mind. “Did I bring my extra battery?” That’s a zen moment.

So let’s move on to the important news stories of the day. South African wildlife officials say they will be forced to begin culling the country’s elephants this year as the last available option to control a population expanding out of control. Since a ban on killing the animals was established in 1995, the number of elephants in South Africa has risen from about 8,000 to 18,000. Similar increases have been observed in other parts of southern Africa and in Bayonne, New Jersey. These pachyderms have been asked to relocate, but with rising airline prices and the need for leg room in first class seats it just hasn’t proven feasible although some said they would do it just for the peanuts. We asked Horton for a comment on this sensitive subject and he said he hadn’t heard a who.

The World Wildlife Fund and other environmental groups acknowledge that limited habitat makes the cull necessary. “We all love our elephants. They are the most charasmatic icon of Africa. But we don’t have the luxury to allow one species to dominate and alter the composition of our natural assests,” says Rob Little of the WWF. Sounds like they have been wrestling with this problem for a while. Because elephants have been observed mourning the loss of family members, wildlife authorities say entire families will be culled together to reduce trauma.

Central Europe’s wily red fox is making a comeback from the verge of extinction due to the disappearance of nearly all its natural enemies, which include the Russians, the Chinese, and the producers of “Sanford and Son.” Wildlife experts say the disappearance of predators such as brown bears, lynxes, wolves and fur retailers over the past 100 years have allowed the foxes to become the dominant carnivore across much of Central Europe.

The population has managed to rebound despite sport hunting that saw more than 600,000 of the canines killed by hunters in Germany during the last hunting season alone. In my mind, it were really be a sport if the foxes also have guns. Foxes have adapted to living in urban environments by feeding on garbage, vermin and paparzzi in communities where hunting is banned. But their real interest is not the food humans don’t eat but the delicacies like rats, mice, pigeons and cornish game hens that the garbage attracts.

A Southeast Asian agricultural pest with an unextremely unpleasant odor has invaded Europe for the first time on record. No, I’m not talking about Muslim rebels from the Phillipines. Swiss officials warned fruit and chocolate farmers that the brown mamorated stink bug has been detected on eight different varieties of plants around Zurich. The bug, which measures about a half-inch in length, attacks the fruit and leaves of apple, cherry, plum and lollipop trees. When asked to comment on the situation, Swiss farmers declined to speak, preferring to remain neutral on the subject.

Agricultural and NBA officials believe this insect may have arrived in Switzerland on imported ornamental plants from Asia. The bug gets its name from its ability to emit a vile odor from its abdomen as a defense against being eaten by birds, lizards and small children. The bottom line is I wasn’t sure if this item was worth mentioning so I just went with my instincts.

Okay, sports fans, sorry it’s a little late but that’s our first blog of May 2008. I’d love to hear some comments from you readers out there in the cashew gallery. So enjoy the freshness of a springtime sunset and have a tremendous sports weekend. I’ll be helping out on the weak side. Aloha.

Good morning and welcome to our Monday edition of “What’s Right and Left of the World.” I often find myself sitting at the crossroads, wondering what subject to broach. Ideally, it would be something interesting or unusual that I can add my sophisticated sense of humor to. Some of the blogs recently have dealt with heavy news (pollution, hunger, wild monkeys) rather than my escapades at the beach while tracking a Charlotte bobcat. Today we’re going to take the more serious and Roebuck route because this next story is a shocker.

Here’s the double scoop. More than 120 veterans of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq commit suicide each week while the government stalls in granting returning troops the mental health treatment and benefits to which they are entitled to. This is according to a veterans advocate who testified before a federal judge last week in San Francisco.

The rights of hundreds of thousands of veterans are being violated by the Department of Veteran Affairs, “an agency that is in denial” and by a government health care system and appeals process for patients that is “broken down,” according to Gordon Erspamer, lawyer for two veterans advocacy groups, who made these remarks in an opening statement at the trial of a nationwide lawsuit. So now rather than just extending our soldiers tours of duty and prolonging the families pain, we’re screwing around with their heads when they return home.

Erspamer says veterans are committing suicide at the rate of 18 per day, a number acknowledged by the VA in a December 15 e-mail. The agency’s backlog of disability claims now exceeds 650,000, an increase of 200,000 since the Iraq war started in 2003. I guess the only good news is that there have been no disability claims filed yet from the next war in Iran.

Justice Department lawyer Richard Lepley countered that the VA runs a “world class health care system.” He said the changes the plaintiffs seek in their lawsuit, better and faster mental health care and more rights for appealing denials of benefits are beyond the judge’s authority. I don’t know that much about this subject, but let’s just say my entire body is wrapped up in red tape as I write this.

The judge in this case, U.S. District Judge Samuel Conti, earlier ruled that if the advocates can prove their claim, they would show that “thousands of veterans are suffering grievous injuries as the result of their inability to procure desperately needed and obviously deserved health care.” He also ruled that veterans are legally entitled to five years of government-provided health care after leaving the service, despite federal officials’ argument that they are required to provide only as much care as the VA’s budget allows in a given year. So what the government is saying is they don’t mind spending over $3,000 a second in Iraq, they just don’t want to go over budget when these vets return home. Fair enough, Pentagon boys.

The trial follows publication of a Rand study last week that estimated that 18.5 percent of U.S. troops returning from Afghanistan and Iraq suffer from major depression or post-traumatic stress. Now, I don’t want to rag on the Bush administration for wasting of trillions of dollars on a blatant lie a war or for taking our eye off the ball in Afghanistan and allowing the Taliban to regroup. That’s just not my style. I was just stunned when I read about the number of veteran’s suicides per day and felt the pain that accompanies these tragedies.

So that’s the news of the day. Today’s photos are from two sunrises back in February. I realize it’s an odd mix, beautiful sunrises over the Pacific along with painful revelations about what our government is doing to the returning troops but you never know what you’ll get here at Sunrise Santa Cruz. Someone once told me variety was the spice of life. I always thought it was onion or garlic powder. Shot a nice sunset tonight up the coast which we’ll see later in the week. Anyway, enjoy the morning colors, support the troops and we’ll catch you for wildlife Wednesday. Aloha.