Washington DC is similar, but there your military would be full colonels, naval commanders and wing commanders (on secondment from the RAF, before you ask). After ten minutes you become completely accustomed to seeing high-ranking officers in full uniform.

Boston (Mass) is special because there the uniform at lunchtime is head-turning, smart-suited secretarial and it’s the uniform footwear that startles (in the nicest of ways). Be-stockinged slender young women, exquisitely turned-out and wearing the daintiest, colourful running shoes dart about their lunch-hour business like gazelles. It’s a bitter/sweet sensation. Not a court shoe or stiletto heel in sight. I guess they just wear them around the office.

West Bridgford Nottingham is special too. No one bats an eyelid as track-suited county and international cricketers, county rugby players, Nottingham Forest and Notts County footballers, Olympic Rowers, hockey players, marathon runners, skate boarders and the occasional geriatric student of karate take coffee, pop into the shops, stop to sign an autograph, sit on the no. 11 bus, pose for a photograph or even walk the length of Musters Road to Rushcliffe Leisure Centre to train in Kata with Kerry Lee 2nd Dan, one-on-one at Trent Shotokan Karate Club as I did last night, while Sensei Paul Wright took the main class.

Of course, we might wear a track suit, light coat (in my case) or jacket, but it would not matter if we didn’t. Not a smirk, not a peep, not a double-take. Merely a nod and a smile of acknowledgement as we make for our destination.

All athletes are treated with courtesy and respect. It’s my kinda town. C’est normal, as the French might say, with a shrug.

Thursday, March 1 I Fulton Street Sessions  TUTA present’s Fulton Street Sessions, written by TUTA, directed by Artistic Director Zeljko Djukic, with original music by Trey Maclin.  Fulton Street Sessions is a cabaret-style production in the form of a collection of sketches, musical numbers, and interludes capturing the essence of current national and local news bulletins, social, cultural and political gossips.

Friday, March 2 to Sunday, March 4 I Bee Movie Weekend  Support the Chicago Honey Co-op as it moves to a new site in March 2012. Join Logan Square Kitchen for a screening of the documentary “The Vanishing of the Bees” narrated by Ellen Page. Tickets nclude a movie seat and your choice of snack or drink. Additional snacks available for purchase, plus a cash bar.  Portion of ticket and concession sales go to the Chicago Honey Co-op. Concessions provided by the Chefs Jason Hammel of Lula Cafe, and Matthias Merges of Yusho. Get ready for crazy awesome movie snacks.

Saturday, March 3 I My Kinda Town  Blankenship’s “My Kinda Town” is a farcical comedy which follows two Chicago best friends and roommates, Tony and Drew. Tony is an up and coming musical theater actor while Drew, a down on his luck writer, battles writer’s block by writing crossword puzzles for The Times. When Tony lands the lead in a sure-fire hit musical, “My Kinda Town,” a role that could help him fulfill his dream of bringing his theatrical talents away from Chicago to New York, Drew begins scheming up ways to keep Tony in town. The hopelessly romantic girl next door, an agent with ambition of his own, and a surprise visit from Tony’s mother, who cares just a little too much, punctuate this romp about friendship, ambition, and the places between.

Sunday, March 4 I Fountainhead Cut the Cheese…and Melted It  For this event, Fountainhead will have four stations set up, each showcasing a fondue or raclette from a different area: Midwest, East Coast, France & Switzerland. Each station is $10 and includes the cheese as well as bread, meat, & other accoutrements that pair well with the featured cheese.  Beer pairings will also be available at each station for an additional fee. Lydia from Marion Street Cheese will be on hand to discuss each cheese. Secure your spot now by buying access to two stations for $20. You can use both stations for your own indulgence or you can split it with a friend. You will also be able to buy additional stations once you arrive. Spaces are limited for this event, so buy your tickets early!

Sunday, March 4 I Heat It UP!  The Glenwood Sunday Market is pleased to present the Third Annual Heat It UP! Chili Cook Off and Festival. If you make the best dang chili around, here’s your chance to prove it! If you love chili, get your Tasters Tickets right now before they’re gone!

Monday, March 5 I Chowdah Fest  Chowdah Fest: Chicago. It’s a multi-chef chowder throwdown at the Columbia Yacht Club ship! Space is very limited, as the ship can comfortably hold 250 people. This event benefits the Sea Scouts youth sailing program. The Chefs include Sarah Grueneberg of Spiaggia & “Top Chef: Texas,” Giuseppe Tentori of GT Fish & Oyster, Mark Stauer of the Bedford, Susan Goss of West Town Tavern, Nicole Pederson of C-House, Jeffrey Hedin of Leopold, Julius Russell (“Tale of Two Chefs”), Chris Turano of Estate Ultra Bar, Dan Marquis of Quay, Guy Meikle of Nana Organic, Jonathan Lane of Benny’s Chop House, The New England Seafood Company and Brandon Baltzley. Twelve in all! Plus, Goose Island will have a tap station, and will be pouring some of their Vintage Ales. There will also be good wine to enjoy with your chowders!

Know of any other events happening in the Chicago area this week? Post them in the comments section.

Thursday, February 23 I Winter Indulgence 2012  Winter Indulgence is finally here! A night of whiskey, beer, chocolate and jazz. Buying tickets in advance is the best and safest way of making sure you get to try everything The Grafton Pub has to offer. Because the first hour is exclusively for those who pay in advance you won’t run the risk of missing out! Get to the Grafton Pub early and remember, you can follow our pairings or use your tickets to buy whatever you like! Please visit The Grafton’s website for more details.

Starts Friday, February 24 I We Have Always Lived in the Castle  Scandal forced the Blackwood sisters and their invalid uncle into seclusion from their rural New England community. The three remain happily isolated from the outside world until the unexpected arrival of an estranged relative, which forces them into a confrontation with everyone and everything they had sought to avoid in the first place. “We Have Always Lived in the Castle” is a compelling exploration of provincialism, the dark side of family ties, and the supernatural.

Friday, February 24 to Sunday, March 11 I Lost & Found: A Recycled Circus  Last year’s runaway hit, “Lost and Found: A Recycled Circus” returns to The Actors Gymnasium! A collaborative original work by Co-Artistic Directors Larry DiStasi and Sylvia Hernandez-DiStasi, together with an amazing team of designers and performers, this circus production explores the world of second-hand treasure. Cast-off junk and cast-off characters are saved in this show and given thrilling, new life.

Friday, February 24 to Saturday, March 10 I My Kinda Town  Blankenship’s “My Kinda Town” is a farcical comedy which follows two Chicago best friends and roommates, Tony and Drew. Tony is an up and coming musical theater actor while Drew, a down on his luck writer, battles writer’s block by writing crossword puzzles for The Times. When Tony lands the lead in a sure-fire hit musical, “My Kinda Town,” a role that could help him fulfill his dream of bringing his theatrical talents away from Chicago to New York, Drew begins scheming up ways to keep Tony in town. The hopelessly romantic girl next door, an agent with ambition of his own, and a surprise visit from Tony’s mother, who cares just a little too much, punctuate this romp about friendship, ambition, and the places between.

Saturday, February 25 and Sunday, February 26 I Hamlet and Eggs: A Scrambled Shakespeare Adventure!  Intrepid young actors must tackle Shakespeare’s classic text AND find the secret to their scrambled scenes! Juliet has a run-in with Hamlet! Romeo fends off the lovesick Rosalind! Macbeth’s Witches conjure Midsummer’s Puck? Only one man can “write” these wrongs but he’s nowhere to be found!  Join Fury Theater and the Shakespeare All-Stars in this kid-friendly interactive Shakespeare whodunit! Literature, learning and laughs for the whole family.

Know of any other events happening in the Chicago area this week? Post them in the comments section.

For the jackass in your life...

What I saw today…

• A guy on the Muni unironically wearing those hideous Oakley Thump sunglasses with built-in earphones and MP3 player.  The strangest part was that, other than the monstrous device wrapping his face, he gave every impression of being relatively normal – even wearing a rather flattering and well-selected outfit…
• A twenty-something chick in front of Lime, who’d apparently over-indulged in “bottomless mimosas”…  She was being propped up by her not-quite-so-drunk friends and had just started puking in the middle of the sidewalk when I passed…  Come on, people, at least get her aiming toward the gutter…  Oh, and this was at 1:00 PM.  Stay classy!
• A man out for a stroll on this lovely sunny day, clad solely in a thong, sneakers and sunglasses. Happily, he had fairly pleasing physique – usually the public-thong-wearers are large, hirsute and no spring chickens…
• A one-eyed dog.
• A young man squeezing his way onto an already packed N-Judah with his bass fiddle…  Though he was pretty polite about making way for others as they boarded and exited the train.

I also got my karma points for the month by handing off my April Fast Pass to a tourist couple waiting to buy cable car tickets, along with the advice it was good until tomorrow for unlimited rides on all Muni vehicles.  They were appreciative…

Some people and some towns are more thoughtful than others…

A smaller town is also easier to find consensus for change.

Fewer vested interests to fight off,  less corporate interest but most importantly a direct connection of the people and decision makers. Often they are the same people. The ones who make the policy and the ones who enjoy the fruits of it or suffer the negatives consequences from it.

So You lobby one – You win them both.

Easy…

The coastal town of Lincoln City, Oregon, has a lot to lose if nothing is done about climate change.

The town sits on the shores of the biggest and most powerful ocean in the world – the Pacific – and its only an average of 11 feet or a little more than 3 meters above normal tide sea levels.

But more abnormal tides are seen and climate related sea level rises and even the rare climate forced tsunamis are all causing people to rethink.

Sea level rising, and unchecked climate change could erode this towns beaches and flood the town completely. So they decide to do their part. Not building sea defenses but acting locally for a global change.

Smart people do it themselves. DIY baseload Energy transition. DIY low carbon local town economy and energy. Especially pioneering types in the West really do it themselves. So here too the residents are taking matters into their own hands.

They transition their thinking into bridging the science and education gaps and finally overcoming the fear gap.

“We could ignore it, let the federal government deal with it,” Mayor Lori Hollingsworth says. “We’re not willing to do that.”

Last year Lincoln City committed to becoming carbon neutral through renewable energy, energy efficiency, and offsets.

Communities like Lincoln City have long been ahead of Congress and the White House on climate commitments. Cities first began committing to Kyoto goals in 2005 through the U.S. Conference of Mayors Climate Protection Agreement. Now more than 1,000 cities have signed on. But the community climate movement goes beyond local government initiatives. It’s a cultural shift involving people at all levels of the community, from tiny rural towns in conservative states to major metropolitan areas and everything in between.

The Heart Land of America is all ready for action now: Climate Action.

Because Climate Action means many things to many people we must explain.

For the smart and pioneering towns and cities in all parts of America, it only means a transition to a low Carbon Infrastructure and changing the base load of Energy

Take for example the college town of Berea, Kentucky, one of the fastest growing communities in the state, which is seeing its subdivisions expand and its farmland disappear.

It’s here that the classic debate has taken a different form. Yes there have been many Town Hall meetings to discuss the future – yet there has never been – through a total consensus. But they all decided to do something to TRANSIT.

Transit the present and Transition onto something else…

And once they set on the road to find what they can do… the rest was easy. For example, one group of residents is making plans to help the community end  reliance on fossil fuels. ”We want to increase the resilience of our community in the face of all the threatspeak oil, climate change, economic contraction, ecosystem decline, population growth—the whole list,” says Richard Olson, head of the Berea College Sustainability and Environmental Studies Program.

All the city of Berea community participants have a real goal they’re calling “50 x 25.”‘

It’s like a fifteen year plan to change and transit their town to something else they like. A bit of redecorating on a city scale. Only like changing the central heating boiler and the gas supply in your home.

The Environmental Parliament first came up with the idea of setting an emission goal supported by a time line in a simple way for people to see. This was the birth of 10×10. Later also shared and released as CC license was the 10:10 campaign in the UK. Eventually the 10:10 was and is the most succesful environmental campaign in the world since it got started in the UK back in late 2008 and  was publicly discussed in early 2009 and shared by the Environmental Parliament. Still the 10:10 campaign means the CO2 emissions to be cut by 10% by the end of 2010 and many people, organizations and communities get on it now.

Like all good policy this bit of the Environmental Policy has been crowd sourced globally. You see now 10:10 and 20:20 and even 50:50 but in Berea they chose the 50×25.

It means a lot of things: By 2025, they aim to have the town using 50 percent less energy, deriving 50 percent of the energy it does use from local sources, getting 50 percent of its food from farms and processors within 100 miles of town, and generating 50 percent of its gross domestic product from locally owned, independent businesses. 

So it takes a lot of initiatives coming together to help make it happen.

Berea is one of more than 40 U.S. communities that have become Transition Towns, a movement that started when British communities began looking for ways to move to low-carbon economies. Transition Towns have formed a diffuse, grassroots network led by the individuals who are working to transform their own communities.

“What’s important, and I think different about the transition movement is that it pays attention to the inner transition as well as the outer,” says Carolyn Stayton, executive director of Transition U.S. and a member of Transition Sebastopol in Northern California. Many Transition Towns have formed “Heart and Soul” working groups to “keep the community sensitive to the difficulty of making change,” says Stayton.

Group skill share and training is key. Transition Town Berea holds monthly skilling workshops to help locals acquire the know how to grow their own food, weatherize their houses, and install solar panels. Their projects help neighbors replant lawns with edibles and build raised vegetable beds. They’ve also auctioned off rain barrels hand-painted by local artists and organized an 100 Mile Potluck to celebrate local food and farmers for permaculture.

The Transition Towns movement… in the United States is less than two years old, but it came from the seeds of earlier localization efforts and other community climate groups and nonprofits.

Most of the Towns have become successful by sharing training resources and experiences with existing groups and other communities, and reaching out to local government.

Yours,

Pano

PS:

Changing is easy.

Transitioning is far easier 

Especially when the cost is profit and new jobs for a bright future 

For you and your community.

Transition Now.

Re power your towns.

Re Energize

Re think your needs.

Re Live

PS2:

Alll the other stuff doesn’t quite matter:

Whether it is Serena Williams, the australian open,

the mens final 2010,  the rolex 24 hours daytona,

races live, winter Olympics, miami marathon, where is george,

 ketogenic diet, pro bowl time, federer murray final, Murray wins, Federer wins, 

rip torn arrested, federer murray australian open, miss america 2010 winner, 

roger federer, pro bowl, miss america, grammy awards, gandhi, Hakimullah Mehsud, 

toyota, bmw sauber, arsenal manchester united, strikeforce, Murray Tennis Winner,

Tennis Transition, What will you wear tomorrow, Who is gonna give you a kiss, a promotion,

a raise, where is your vacation, your car, where did I park, who stole my bike, where is my girlfriend now,

my tooth hurts, a derranged Indian wanker attacked me, where is the moon now, Full moon,

why people behave crazy,

Subo is really Gordon Brown as a tranny,

Maybe Subo should move in Downing Street, 

She has a better chance of winning the elections this May,

At least she will present a Challenge,

A double Scotch – always better than a single 

Good Luck

PS3:

Life is beautiful if you have a sense of humour.

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