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Tahoe Rim Trail
“A Glimpse of Heaven”
“A Taste of Hell”

Jose Castillo of Noon International ran the 50K Tahoe Rim Trail UltraMarathon race in the mountains of Lake Tahoe today Saturday July 17th. (50k about 32miles) The course runs from an elevation of 7000 feet to 8500 feet and back again, running through creeks, climbing rocks and everything else that one encounters in the outback.

In his first ever UltraMarathon race he completed the 50k in 9 hours and 20 minutes and is already looking forward to next year.

Oh yes, I forgot to mention he ran it in his barefoot shoes, EVO Vivobarefoot by Terra Plana. Now that is REMARKABLE!

It started here at 6am in the morning:

And it finished here 9 hours and 20 minutes later:

Jose coming into finish line.

Jose finishing

Happiness is coming to the finish line 9hr20min after the start

Jose finishing the 50k.

Technorati Tags: Tahoe Rim Trail, Evo, Terra Plana, 50k, ultramarathon

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It would seem like Foxconn suicides were the catalyzer for a wave of labor unrest around China, the common theme was increase in wages and better labor conditions.

The Chinese government has so far responded by encouraging local governments to increases the minimum wage in their areas, it’s reported that at least 20 provinces and cities have raised minimum wages close to 20%.

The Shenzhen government issued a statement this month that the minimum monthly wage will rise to 1,100 yuan ($161) for full-time workers, while hourly pay for part-time employees will climb to 9.8 yuan ($1.44).

Beijing, the capital city, will increase its minimum wage by 20 percent to 960 yuan($140.5) per month from 800 yuan ($117) from July 1.

So, if you are assembling (or selling) high tech gadgets such as iPhones or iPads the recent increases might be somehow manageable however for companies producing low priced commodities, such as frozen/canned fruits and vegetables, this might be a harder pill to swallow.

So who is going to pick up the bill? Not sure yet, customer worldwide are demanding lower prices to accommodate consumers frugal spending habits. On the other hand suppliers are struggling with, well… higher wages, increased freight rates and surging energy cost.

So is this the end for cheap commodities coming out of China, I don’t think so (at least not yet) while some firms might move to other countries such as Bangladesh or Vietnam I believe majority will move inland China where wages are still low.
Plus for us in the vegetable industry the variables of longitude and latitude have a definitely impact on what we can grow and how well it grows.

Technorati Tags: Foxconn, China Workers, China Minimum Wage, iPhone

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Noon Seattle office celebrating Year of Tiger!

Year of the Tiger

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You order and pay.
You receive what the customer in front of you ordered.
Your order is given to the customer following you.

Ordering at Cafe Ogori

Your order will be a complete surprise because you have no idea what the person in front of you order. Likewise the person to follow you has no idea what you order.

Sign Cafe Ogori

You might spend $30 on your meal but only get a coffee!
Or the person behind you might want a glass of orange juice but receives your hamburger and fry’s.

What a novel idea.

Would this work at your local restaurant? Supermarket?

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On November 8th, 2009 several of China’s top agriculture experts (the eight standards) met in Beijing. One of the presenters of interest was Professor Zhan Jingchun who spoke of his research on his Zero Pesticide Residual.

This should be of interest to all of us who are concerned about pesticides on our foods. Professor Zhan after 18 years of work has developed what he calls the Zero Pesticide Residual degradation technology. At its core it will control a series of biochemical reactions in the plants that will cause it to degrade pesticide residual to zero or near-zero. In addition it will reduce heavy metal toxins by 50% to 86%. The product is to be applied either by seed treatment, leaf application or through irrigation into the root of the plants. The product does not have any negative side effects or contamination.

After review and discussion by the experts it was determined that the Zero Pesticide Residual be approved and further testing be done on a commercial basis. The experts feel that not only will the process comply with China’s eight standards but will also meet the standards of Europe, Japan and USA. All efforts will be concentrated on moving forward and getting final registration in Beijing.

We look forward to seeing more details and explanation of the entire process and how it impacts the plants.

Source: Chinese Food Quality Newspaper, Nov 9, 2009
Eight Standards: Fruits, Vegetables, Fruits and Vegetable Powder, Tea, Cereals, Ginseng, Herbs and Cottonseed.

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“China is suffering the coldest winter (record breaking cold temperature in 30 years history) in Northern, NW, East coast (Yangzi River Triangle Area farm land grounds are frozen solid which is very unusual in that area) part of China, even Southern provinces are affected. The Winter/Spring Crops are damaged. People are scrambling to source fresh vegetables from Sichuan province to many parts of metropolitan areas, like Shanghai for example and prices are going sky high. Many frozen vegetable processing /packing facilities are all having nothing to do, due to lack of raw materials, because fresh vegetables are all going to local markets for people’s daily consumption. Fresh Broccoli and Cauliflowers are in huge demand and hard to come by for frozen vegetable processors. We will see severe shortage of these items in the near future.

This condition will get worse, if the weather condition will not improve in short period of time. It will affect our packers’ ability to get decent prices and good quality/quantities of raw materials in order to fulfill our contracts.”

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The White House Website
American Red Cross
Partners In Health

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