Miika Grady

Aw, what a cute pterodactyl baby

Our screaming little pterodactyl-monkey baby is almost 5 months old.

Why does food seem so expensive?

It’s related to our desire to become less dependent on foreign oil (and the Middle East). By subsidizing the ethanol industry, we’re increasing food prices.

TIME magazine breaks it down in last week’s issue, and Slate provides further explanation. The unfortunate consequences are as follows:

1. Farmers abandon growing other crops because they can get sky-high (subsidized) prices for corn (ethanol). Because farmers are growing less of other food crops, supply drops and food prices increase.

2. With oil now costing what it does, the cost of transportation and production of food has gone up, which results in higher prices at the grocery store.

3. Though ethanol is being touted as a green solution, Brazil’s rainforest and other forests around the world are being razed in favor of farm land to grow ethanol. Forest are a major carbon dioxide sink that balances out global warming. Less forests, more global warming.

So, now in addition to subsidizing oil production, we’re subsidizing ethanol production which isn’t any better for the environment, AND it negatively impacts food prices and supplies. It’s another pretty bad cycle we’re getting into. Shouldn’t the goal simply be to use the energy we have as efficiently as possible?

How big do I seem to my baby?

At 4 months, Rhys is growing really fast. At his last doctor’s appointment he was measured at 27 inches long and almost 16 pounds. He’s a big boy!

But he’s still tiny. After looking at him in the crib the other night, I wondered, “If Rhys was actually my size (70 inches and 150 pounds), relatively speaking, how big would I seem to him?” Or in other words, “If I were a baby (at my current size), how big would my dad seem to me?” After some quick calculations, I am approximately 15 feet tall (181 inches) and 1,400 pounds.  That’s right.  I’m 1,400 pounds.