New Year – Old Resolutions
We make resolutions which are really wishes for being other than what we are. “I want to be thin.” “I am going on a diet.” “I will be less angry.” “I am not going to work so much.” “I will not drink so much.” “I won’t smoke.” And so on. There is nothing “new” in making resolutions. Each resolution is a statement regarding ourselves: “I am too heavy.” “I eat too much.” “I am angry.” “I am a workaholic.” “I am an alcoholic.” “I smoke.” This game we play with ourselves has no winner, indirectly affirming what it is we don’t want to do or be through resolutions of what we want. Fundamentally we are in...
Facebook – Virtual Dormitory
The Stanford Inn by the Sea is on Facebook – so is our Ravens’ Restaurant. Facebook is an important way to keep interested guests informed about what is happening at the Inn. Trade journals tell us that social media sites are an essential aspect of marketing. And marketing a business is one thing: exposing oneself is another. Using Facebook troubles us because in a way through our presence we are supporting the concept of virtual social networking. We are plugging into a venue where personal information is shared openly and we are concerned regarding “unintended consequences.” Through Facebook and other social media more is known about more people than at any time in the history of mankind. We can check each other out – either...
Online Travel Agencies – The Rip-off Mendocino County and Other Destinations
Did you know that when you book with an online travel agency, in almost all cases, a portion of your tax payment is just pure profit for the agency. When you book online through a dot.com, you are charged a “bed tax” or “transient occupancy tax” on your accommodations if the property is in an area with such taxes. A good portion of that tax is not paid to the taxing jurisdiction. When the dot.com charges your credit card for a deposit or for the entire stay, they include bed taxes, which in San Francisco are 15%. However, the City only receives taxes on the net amount paid to the hotel. Generally, the hotel receives about 70% to 75% of the the actual amount you pay. For example, if you pay $200 per night, you credit card will be charged...
Holiday or Vacation – Welcomed Retreat from Vacation Country
Vacation Destinations – We live in one and now we visit another. Here’s our home that we have left for Manitoba. The Stanford Inn at Dusk We are in Matlock, Manitoba, Canada on vacation or as they say in Manitoba, “on holiday.” Manitobans have it right: a vacation is a holiday – or holy-days – and they are for us. These days are special. There are few interruptions. (When we first are on the road, there are lots of calls from the Inn. They taper as members of our staff get their footing – something we hope they remember when we return.) Murphy retrieving a stick on Lake Winnipeg At home, which is the Inn, we work seven days a week providing little time for reflection and meditation. When we are here, on the same short...
A possible solution to global warming – Eliminate global dairy and cattle production
According the United States Environmental Protection Agency the 100 million cattle in the US emit 5.5 million metric tons of methane. Globally, cattle flatulence and belches account for 66 million metric tons and methane is 25 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than CO2 – carbon dioxide. What if we ended dairy and beef operations today? What might be the possible long term consequence? Felisa Smith of the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, may have the answer. She suggests that 13,400 years ago the Americas were extensively populated by large herbivores particularly 12,000 – 20,000 pound woolly mammoths. This was the end of the Wisconsin glacial period and a time of rising temperatures. By 11,500 years ago and roughly 1000 years following...
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