A road map to Kristian Hansen and fun stuff.

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Freedom Tower Miami

Built in 1925, this 17 story - 255 foot tall building was quintessentially Spanish and Italian in its design.

It has graced the Miami skyline for almost 9 decades and has seen many changes. 

Megan and myself were lucky to receive a tour of the Freedom Tour by its Executive Director Jeremy Mikolajczak.

He showed us the upper levels of the tower and its sweeping vistas. Thank you for the opportunity to check out this awesome monument.

Diabetes, Coca-Cola, and the Danish Flag

Coca-Cola is one of the world’ worst corporations and largest. Bringing terrible sugar water and diabetes to first and third world countries alike, I can not and will not support this brand. 

Thank you (mange tak) for spoiling the Danish Flag with your newest ad campaign and mirroring the actions of a parasite, in stealing the “happiest country” in the world with your crap drink.

Time to get more seeds growing. Germination of peppers, kale, carrots and others is going to be fierce. 

These aren’t for my garden, but for anyone in San Francisco that wants a little kick start to their backyard project! I will be giving these away. Reach me via kristian (at) trackstand (dot) com if you want some.

Time to get more seeds growing. Germination of peppers, kale, carrots and others is going to be fierce.

These aren’t for my garden, but for anyone in San Francisco that wants a little kick start to their backyard project! I will be giving these away. Reach me via kristian (at) trackstand (dot) com if you want some.

DFA Records Turns 12: Watch this video

This was a large part of my New York Experience. Which encapsulated much of DFA’s reign. Glad I was there and grew up into my 20s while the label skyrocketed into the heavens.

Miami: Coffee and Art

South Beach at Sunrise

Latte at Panther Coffee

Giant Rooster at Pride and Joy BBQ

Greetings from Miami. The last few days I have been coasting in a sea of blue abyss. The deep blue ocean and ephemeral salty air permeate the humid heat. If this is a precursor to the summer, I am quite certain I would melt. 

This weekend has been jam-packed with food and get-togethers.

Friday I was fortunate to visit the historic Bacardi Building, which is the former headquarters of the Bacardi rum company and now is the HQ for YoungArts a national non-profit dedicated to the proliferation of art in the youth of America. They hosted a jazz/poetry evening on the top floor of the building. Great stuff. 

In my time here I have also been fortunate to check out the local hipster barista scene - enter Panther Coffee Co. Not as pretentious as the shops I frequent in San Francisco (which is a warm welcome), but the coffee is just as great. Right now I am sipping on a large brew of fresh pressed Rwandan beans. The latte shot in the images is from Friday.

For a surprise bday party, I ventured to Pride and Joy - a BBQ joint with great outdoor seating ( not very great service) and a selection of murals on the wall. I especially enjoyed the large rooster. 

Two more days here and I wish my mini-vacation was longer. Yet, things are staying strong and heating up in Marin County, as Laughing Chickens never sleeps. The orders keep coming in across the various networks we sell our products. Keep at it citizens of the world. Buy more of my coops! 

Laughing Chickens Video Compilation

Google has this amazing “Google Alerts” function that I rely upon to check for any search terms I deem relevant to my company or self. Today “Laughing Chickens” showed up in my feed and I found this funny YouTube video about chickens laughing.

Enjoy!

Margaret Thatcher - How Does It Feel To Be the Mother of a Thousand Dead?

Crass is an awesome late 70s British Punk band. Margaret Thatcher, the milk snatcher, was a powerful PM, who died today. Anyway, Crass did not like her at all or any of her policies, which caused many people to die or suffer. 

DIY Raised Bed for your Patio

Today I built a raised bed for my concrete patio. In my backyard, the patio area gets the most sunlight.

Its a shame to have all that sun go to waste, so I took some scrap plywood that I found on the sidewalk and two 3’ and 2’ section of my raised bed system (offered at www.harvestboxes.com) to build out this simple raised bed. 

The process can be condensed down to 8 easy steps.

  1. Measure 2x6 Lumber ( in my case cedar) to fit your plywood. I used two pre-cut lengths of 2’ and 3’ for the 2x6. Which gave me a 6 square foot raised bed area.
  2. Once you have the raised bed frame size figured out you can mark with a pen or pencil the footprint on top of the plywood. I used a Skilsaw, which rips right through any piece of wood you put in front of it.
  3. Screw together the 2x6 lumber to build your raised bed frame.
  4. Screw the raised bed frame to the plywood you just cut a few screws per piece of wood should suffice.
  5. Drill drainage holes into the plywood at One per Square Foot AND put an extra hole into each corner of the box. I used a 3/8” bit for my holes. Place the completed raised bed on top of four bricks - which will allow for further drainage.
  6. Fill with Soil, Compost and Amendments. 
  7. Plant your seeds and water.
  8. Enjoy the fruits/veggies/flowers of your labor!!

That is about it enjoy. And if you are in the market for one of my raised beds made from FSC certified redwood than I suggest you head over to Harvest Boxes. If you use the code SOIL and get 10% off as a reader of this blog.

Femen Stages Topless Jihad

image

Setting Flags on Fire Denouncing the Tunisian Government

A Muslim gentlemen teaching non-violence and tolerance to a protester

Islam preaches many things - it seems to me that Love is one of their guiding principles. Yet, in Tunisia, activist Amina Tyler, has been issued a “death by stoning” sentence for baring her breast as a stand against the oppression that women face daily in Muslim societies across the world.

Yesterday there was a day of protests put on by Femen, a Ukrainian Communist group ( or something like that) - and they mobilized women to protest all across Europe and to form a Topless Jihad to show their support for 19 year old Amina.

This is not the first, nor the last time that I will provide commentary on religion. But come on people, its 2013 and people are still being stoned to death for showing their boobs? Its hard for me to reconcile the fact that so many people are “faith-based” and that billions of people in the world think this is justified punishment. And when I say billions, I am accounting for Muslims, Christian, Jews and any other set of ruling religions that set legal precedent and procedure based on their dated religious notions of self-right.

We can have electric cars, flying planes, women’s suffrage ( in most of the world), yet we cannot have freedom of expression. Its a sad time and space right now.

Free Amina.