Sunday Afternoon Memorial Day Weekend 2012

It is interesting to see the amount of "buzz" that has been generated as a result of selling the 2,600 pounds of shrimp we produced from our initial growth trials.


The size, combined with our reports on the superior taste, and somewhat surprisingly the fact that the shrimp are produced in a "natural system" no antibiotics or chemicals, etc., has generated enquires both here and from afar. 


People have called asking "what are our next moves to be and what are we looking at for expansion?" Oh, and most encouragingly, " when can we buy some of your shrimp?"


Obviously, we are seeking funding to expand here in the RGV. 


That is the priority.  


We will be in full commercial production in the current production module by mid-June. In order for the Texas operation to be self sustaining we need to get to about 2 million pounds of production.


That will happen as fast as we can bring in the money to do so and that effort starts full ahead on June 1. 


I have had several discussions  over the past three days with individuals that want us to consider bringing our system overseas.


If the right project, in the right area, with the right deal, for us comes along, I think we could handle one and I mean just one project overseas in tandem with the expansion here.


Our team is growing and that means our bench strength is close to being able to allow us to consider that possibility. 


I guess I am willing to look at one deal outside the USA as long as it works for us. We are a much stronger operation now and are past the point where our production claims can be questioned. 


That said, given the success of the past few months and the sale of our jumbo shrimp through a broker distributor here in the USA, that means the price of getting our technology and know how into another country has gone up. 


Other thoughts on Sunday afternoon:


Just finished two books by Layton Green, "The Summoner" and "The Egyptian". I love this guy's writing. Just downloaded his very short story entitled "Hemingway's Ghost". Can't wait to read that as well.


Also looking forward to the HBO movie this week, "Hemingway and Gellhorn" with Clive Owen and Nicole Kidman. I am a devoted Hemingway fan and glad he is still relevant to the point they are still making moves and writing stories about him. 


Love the new song I have been hearing by singer Kady Z It is  called, "Beautiful Disaster". 


Lots of talented young performers out there today. 


Sunday's can be difficult for me. Too much down time. Knowing today was not only a Sunday but the day before a major holiday, which also can offer too much down time, I went for a 6 plus mile run/hike this morning. 


Damn near killed me but I am proud to say I can still run (albeit slowly) 3 miles straight with no break.


Came back spent an hour in the pool and when I finally showered and headed for lunch all of the potential little "anxieties" in my brain seemed to have disappeared. Exercise is truly amazing.


Saw Men In Black 3 yesterday. Still funny to me. 


Oh well, one more quiet day tomorrow and then back to the hunt. 

Personal Musings on a Tuesday Morning

I am reading a new author (new to me at least) and I came across a line in one of his books that for me rang with such a clarity of truth and insight that it brought me great comfort to know that others feel as I have felt at times about the mystery of our existence.


The line was,  " ...and he pondered humanity's wraith-like state, doomed to live a half life somewhere between the absurdity of physical existence and the shadowy quagmire of spiritual truth."


The author's name is Layton Green and I am pretty sure he is going to become the newest addition to my stable of regular authors. His words seem to reflect a view of reality that is very akin to my own view. 


Lori has her next check-up at MD Anderson in two weeks. We are praying that her cancer is still at bay. Please for all of you who have been praying for her do not stop. Cancer is a terribly evil thing but in just the past year I have seen countless cases where miracles have occurred where people with no hope are defying the odds and are thriving, and the only explanation is "prayer". 


I just received this week's issue of "Bloomberg Business week". I have no idea of how I got on this publication's mailing list but in the past 6 weeks that I have been getting this magazine in the mail, it has become of one of my highly anticipated weekly events. The articles are well researched, insightful, and the topics covered in each issue are far reaching and comprehensive. 


I saw the "Avengers" two weeks ago. Loved it and can understand how it has become a global phenomenon. 


Saw "Battleship" last week. Liked it. I am perplexed as to why it has done so poorly here in the USA. That said, I also (being a huge fan of Edgar Rice Burroughs) loved the recent "John Carter" movie which by all accounts has been a global flop. Go Figure. 


I saved a small lizard from drowning yesterday. Barely a 1/2 inch long he had fallen into the pool and lay on the surface exhausted from trying (to no avail) to get out. He was so tired he stayed motionless on my hand for at least 5 minutes before he scampered away into the bushes in our courtyard. 


For some reason, my mind flashed back to a time about ten years ago when my good friend and business associate Dick Monroe and I rescued a large sea turtle form the market square in Papua New Guinea. 


Laying upside down on her back and weighing nearly 100 pounds she looked to be at death's door. She was being sold for consumption. After paying about 5 times what a local resident would have had to shell out to eat the poor creature, Dick and I got her into the trunk of our rental car and headed for the local yacht club to put her into the water.


She appeared comatose and as we hefted her out Dick observed that we indeed may have gotten to her to late. 


Let me tell you did we get a surprise for as we approached ocean's edge still 100 feet away her nose began to dilate and her flippers began to move slowly at first and then frantically. 


We barely got her to the water's edge as she tore out of our grasp and plunged into the water and shot out of the harbor at a speed somewhere in excess of that produced by a small outboard motor. 


Laughing and shaking hands we sang a few off beat lines from the song "Born Free" and walked back to the car feeling quite good about ourselves. 


Lori always says, "a saved soul is a saved soul", and if there is one conviction I have come to hold as I have grown older it is this. 


I cannot prove people have souls though I think we do. But if we do all have a soul then so does every living creature on this planet. And that soul is as unique to each lizard, turtle, dog, or deer as it is for each human being. This I do know to be true. 


And now that I have thought about it, I am doubly glad I was there at that moment for that little lizard.  

UnderCover Available as a Kindle Edition

A little over a month ago I wrote that my book "UnderCover" was ready to be available on Amazon in a Kindle edition.


Well it was up on Amazon but it had formatting and other editing issues.


My editor has been diligently working toward a better understanding of E-books and what is involved in editing and layout of Kindle editions in contrast to an actual published paper book.


It seems he has mastered that process for today "UnderCover" is again up and available on Amazon (sans formatting issues) as an E-book Kindle edition.

I have put the cover up on this blog before so today am just going to run three pics in the book of me taken during that period of my life. 

                        Dehorning a white rhino in Zimbabwe

                                                           In Indonesia in 1993

        
    W/ the late Susan Butcher, Iditarod champion, and dear friend. 

Triple Bottom Line

I was reading the May 7-13 issue of the "Bloomberg Business Week" and came across a short but very well written advertisement/ article entitled "A Choice Opportunity".

It is a brief article that simply points out that Rio+20 looms near and the world is again gathering to address how create a comprehensive plan for a sustainable future.

In the opening lines the author writes, "The world's population surpassed 7 billion last year. It is expected to increase another 30% over the next 40 years, while natural resources dwindle and environmental conditions decay. That is a problem that can no longer be disguised euphemistically as "a challenge".

As I sit here and review the stocking protocols for our system and am considering the formulas for the Waste Water Treatment (WWT) system that allows us to remove chemicals and other noxious waste from the water while the shrimp are growing in the ponds and to do so naturally and rapidly with no discharge and no environmental challenges I am re-energized by both the immediate application which will be enormously profitable to wit: a natural system for growing jumbo white shrimp. 

But I am equally upbeat by the immediate potential of our system with some adaptation for the production of high yield marine protein from fin fish especially such as species as black cod, white sea bass, and even flounder. 

I am writing this because I am not sure during our work the past year here if we have made this point adequately to those interested in our system.

Yes, I have discussed the profitability of the system through the production of jumbo shrimp and I have talked a lot about how we have eliminated the risks and problems associated with open air aquaculture but I am not positive we have actually discussed the way this is going to impact the production of marine protein in a truly green sustainable and profitable manner.

(This is the new 'triple bottom line" John Elkington wrote about over a decade ago in his book "Cannibals With Forks").

Maybe it does not matter and all that investors really give a damn about is the return on their investment. (And God knows I am no socialist but a true proponent of capitalism).

That said, there is a line in this article that states, "...the UN Conference on Sustainable Development June 20-22 in Rio de Janeiro, promises to define a path to a safer, more equitable, cleaner, greener, and more prosperous world. After the conference, a big choice between action and inaction looms for the global community...". 

I can think of no one area any more critical to the future posterity of the world than a system and protocols capable of producing significant amounts of crustaceans, mollusks, and fish to provide people with a healthy protein in a sustainable and natural form. 

And we have it operating and ready for expansion.

The Movie " The Cove"

Recently I got the following questions about the movie "The Cove" (the movie made by activists exposing the annual slaughter of dolphins in Taiji, Japan ) from my the son of one of my closest friends.


His questions were so thought provoking and so worthy of serious reply that it took me several days to compose my response.


Now that I have answered him I also want to share my response with others because in my answer to this young man I realized I articulated many strong opinions that hold regarding our relationship not just with dolphins but with all animals as well as other human beings.


His questions 


How much was fact and how much was exaggeration the film "The Cove" ? 


Is what's going on in Taiji as bad as claimed, or is it a only very small portion of the dolphin population affected? 


Also, claims were made very whole-hearted claims about dolphins' self awareness and high intelligence, like that the Dolphin Kathy who played Flipper committed suicide. Is any of that true, or even plausible? 
The Japanese representative to the IWC (the International Whaling Commission)  representative of Japan is made out to be a cold hearted person who lies to the world everyday about what goes on in Taiji. Truth? 


Sorry about all of these questions, but I just wanted to pick apart as much of this documentary as possible and analyze it for truth. 


My Response: 


Excuse my delay in responding to your E-mail. Your questions are some what difficult for me to answer. 


First, yes, dolphins are highly intelligent, social, and complex creatures who suffer loss, who are self-aware, who have complex language systems and who can grieve. That said, being intelligent and self aware is not the only or even the defining pre-requisite for not being harmed or caused to suffer needlessly by another.

Any sentient creature has the right not to be harmed by another especially those of us who "know" what we do, and do so even though we could choose not to do so.


The IWC representatives from Japan as well as Norway and Iceland are not cold blooded they are ignorant. 

Ignorance has always been a primary cause where ever suffering and needless pain and death have occurred as a consequence of human behavior, be it to animals or to other humans. 

Jonathan Swift the great English satirist wrote," I am never surprised to see men wicked, but I am always amazed that they are not later ashamed". 

What goes on annually in Taiji is brutal, and unnecessary and represents the last vestiges of a barbaric past relationship man has had for eons with dolphins as well as whales.

Thus in answer to your questions, "yes" the facts in the movie "The Cove" are accurate. 

My issue with so many "activists" is what was the motivation for the film? 

These groups fund raise on exposing issues and atrocies, they often gain international attention, but what do they do as a afterwards to stop the 

killing and the brutality?

Did they even have a strategy for following up after the movie? 

What has this film done to reduce even by a single dolphin one death?

Did alienating the Japanese as a nation help those dolphins? Will it help future dolphins? 

I am at a point in my life where unless you have a plan to make things better, just "stirring the pot" to make yourself look good or make money, is not enough. And it is not justified in my opinion. 

In closing one thing you wrote disturbed me.

You wrote," Is what's going on in Taiji as bad as he said, or is it a very small portion of the dolphin population? "

Words like "population" like the words "species" or words like "human kind" or "man kind" or "the forest" are just terms we as a people use to categorize what we observe around us.

Forests, mankind, people, don't feel pain, suffer and die, only individuals do.

You don't cut down a forest, you cut down one tree at a time and if you cut down enough individual trees people say "you cut down a forest". 

How many trees does it take to make a forest?

You don't save or destroy human kind or people. You kill or harm and a real person, an individual or you save that individual person. 

Never think that the harming or killing of a single living individual regardless of species is made acceptable by its single impact on a larger group. 

That individual has the right  to exist and flourish and live their life unharmed as 

much as you or I. 

The reason the Vietnam Memorial in DC is so moving so emotionally heart wrenching is that when you read the names of the 55,000 plus individuals that died in that conflict you cannot think they were just 55,000 soldiers, no, they were 55,000 individuals who dreams, whose experiences, who joys were snuffed out.

If one dolphin or one person suffers or dies for no good reason then it is wrong at every ethical and moral level, (from my perspective).