Fish upstream from here

Sorry, but once the scatological humor starts, I just can't stop my inner 12-year-old boy. I ran across this picture from a bit ago I should have included in my earlier post about pollution.

A former sanitation worker doing a double-take, I'm sure

You government, get off my lawn!

My mom was recently here for a visit, and she commented that Ecuador is essentially what the Tea Partyers want--a very unregulated system where just about anything goes. And even though Mom calls herself libertarian these days, it was both a jab a the Tea Party and an expression of distaste of Ecuadorian chaos.

Waiter, there's a poop on my plate

I'm an environmentalist. Of course according to polls all Americans consider themselves environmental. But I actually got paid for it, so, ha, I win.

"Summer" camp

I swear one day I'll write a "when the First World isn't" post, explaining why the difference in the worlds is really categorical and useful for economic textbooks, rather than any individual's daily life or experience. Upon learning of our plans for Ecuador, one (very successful, highly-educated, intelligent) friend asked, "Do they have flush toilets?" So perhaps an easy way to understand the worlds is to say, yes they have very nice flush toilets here (many even wash your bum with a warm, soothing...oops, too far). But the difference is that there are many people here who do not have them. So one of the measures to measure your country's world level is flush toilets per capita, but the lack of flush toilets affects me personally as much here as it does back in the States; that is to say, not at all. Now, I said all that to say this: They have "summer camps" here just like we have at home!

Teddy in the mix

At least that's the name of the new sitcom we're pitching to NBC.