For the thousands of stranded passengers and crew onboard the damaged Carnival Splendor, which was slowly towed by tugboat to San Diego after a fire knocked out the cruise ship’s engines the U.S. Navy and Spam came to the rescue.

Both the Navy, with the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan, and the U.S. Coast Guard, with two cutters and aircraft assisted the $700 million ship,

Some 4,500 pounds in supplies, including Spam, were delivered to the ship by Navy Seahawk helicopter.

In the USA the economy is in tatters and, for millions of people, the future is uncertain. But lately for Hormel employees times have never been better. They are working at a furious pace and piling up all the overtime they want.

The workers make Spam, perhaps the emblematic hard-times food in the American pantry.

Through war and recession and now “ship wreck,” Americans have turned to the glistening canned product from Hormel as a way to save money while still putting something that resembles meat on the table. Now, in a sign of the times, it is happening again, and Hormel is cranking out as much Spam as its workers can produce.

In a factory that abuts Interstate 90, two shifts of workers have been making Spam seven days a week since last July, and they have been told that the relentless work schedule will continue indefinitely.

Spam, a gelatinous 12-ounce rectangle of spiced ham and pork, may be among the world’s most maligned foods, dismissed as inedible by food elites and skewered by comedians who have offered smart-alecky theories on its name (one G-rated example: Something Posing As Meat).

But these days, consumers are rediscovering relatively cheap foods, Spam among them. Certainly the luxury cruise passengers were happy to rediscover it.

A 12-ounce can of Spam, marketed as “Crazy Tasty,” costs about $2.40. “People are realizing it’s not that bad a product,” said Dan Johnson, 55, who operates a 70-foot-high Spam oven.

Hormel workers were interviewed recently with the help of their union, the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union Local 9. Slumped in chairs at the union hall after making 149,950 cans of Spam on the day shift, several workers said they been through boom times before — but nothing like this.

Spam “seems to do well when hard times hit,” said Dan Bartel, business agent for the union local. “We’ll probably see Spam lines instead of soup lines.”

Even as consumers are cutting back on all sorts of goods, Spam is among a select group of thrifty grocery items that are selling steadily.

Pancake mixes and instant potatoes are booming. So are vitamins, fruit and vegetable preservatives and beer, according to data from last October compiled by Information Resources, a market research firm.

There has also been a double-digit increase in the sale of rice and beans. Heck the Brazilians have known about that great belly filler for decades.

Recently Kraft Foods reported that some of its value-oriented products like macaroni and cheese, Jell-O and Kool-Aid were experiencing robust growth. And sales are still growing, if not booming, for Velveeta, a Kraft product that bears the same passing resemblance to cheese as Spam bears to ham.

Spam holds a special place in America’s culinary history, both as a source of humor and of cheap protein during hard times.

Jay Hormel, the son of the company’s founder, invented Spam during the Great Depression. Spam is a combination of ham, pork, sugar, salt, water, potato starch and a “hint” of sodium nitrite “to help Spam keep its gorgeous pink color,” according to Hormel’s Web site for the product.

Because it is vacuum-sealed in a can and does not require refrigeration, Spam can last for years. Hormel says “it’s like meat with a pause button.”

During World War II, Spam became a staple for Allied troops overseas. They introduced it to local residents, and it remains popular in many parts of the world where the troops were stationed.

Guam, Okinawa and even Japan have a special affection for Spam. I had Spam Sashimi in Tokyo introduced by the Samoan Sumo Champion, Akibono.

Last year I even saw Spam make an appearance on the Waffle House menu…yikes the economy will even change our dietary habits.

Can this be true?

A new study suggests that the rapid-fire visual puzzles that make Tetris so engrossing may also make the video game a promising treatment for post-traumatic stress.

Recurring, intrusive thoughts of a traumatic event are one of the hallmark symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a type of anxiety disorder. According to the study, which appears in the journal PLoS ONE, playing Tetris soon after a traumatic experience appears to protect against these flashbacks, by distracting the brain from the event and short-circuiting how upsetting memories and images are stored.

Not just any video game will do. Notably, the study found that games that rely on trivia or language skills don’t appear to have the same therapeutic effect as stacking Tetris blocks, probably because they activate different areas of the brain.

“Verbal tasks may not be as effective because they will not affect the same neural networks,” says Dr. Alexander Obolsky, M.D., a professor of psychiatry at Northwestern University, in Evanston, Illinois, who specializes in the treatment of PTSD. “It’s a different part of the brain that processes that information.”

Actually playing Tetris may even build up your brain. The researchers concluded that, “A visuospatial task such as Tetris may offer a ‘cognitive vaccine’ against the development of PTSD flashbacks after exposure to traumatic events.”

I don’t know if I am buying it but I have been using “Angry Birds” to ease some stress at work and I think it has helped me sleep too.

Maybe Tetris could replace medical marijuana?

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors has “passed an ordinance that will require meals to meet certain nutritional guidelines if restaurants wish to include a toy with the food purchase.” Meals with toys must meet nutritional requirements with respect to fruit, vegetable and multigrain content. The ordinance passed by an 8-3 vote, enough of a margin to override a promised mayoral veto. Oh no!

I wonder which will come first: a McDonald’s capitulation or a black market in happy meals? Isn’t that unconstitutional What would Thomas Jefferson have thought of this one?

The new law has sparked heated debate between those who say it’s about time more is done about childhood obesity and those who say the government should butt out. It’s already peaking interest among some lawmakers in the Washington area. George Leventhal, a Montgomery County Council Member, has spearheaded efforts in the public health battle before…let’s see what happens next.

In my day we used to tell our friends ,”Don’t drink and dial.”

Now with all of the new technology you may be regretting that drunken tweet from Friday or tagging a photo from a party that may be etched into the world of the web for years to come.

I just read on CNN that help is just a download away.

“the Social Media Sobriety Test,” a free Firefox plug-in from online-security company Webroot, lets users name sites, like Facebook and Twitter, on which they’d like a little oversight.

Set the hours you feel most likely to give in to booze-fueled temptation, and the plug-in will ask you to pass a simple test before being able log on.

“Nothing good happens online after 1a.m.,” reads the Web page for the add-on, promising to help “put an end to the embarrassment that follows regrettable, late-night posts.” Isn’t this how Facebook was conceived in the first place…?

“Pass a simple test to prove you’re sound of mind,” it says. “Post away or, if you fail, maybe just go to bed.”

The site also lets users set up the test on Myspace, photo site Flickr, blog host Tumblr and YouTube. The user can manually add other social-media sites to the list.

As evidence of the need for its service, the app’s page features a scroll of what appear to be Twitter posts that could have been avoided. I could have submitted a few of the examples from my own ‘Wall” of shame.

The feature is similar to Google’s “Mail Goggles” That app requires Gmail users who install it to solve math problems before sending booze-soaked messages late at night on weekends. Heck I amy not pass that sober!

Sparky Anderson died Thursday, and with his passing, baseball has lost one of its great characters and all-time gentlemen. I only spent four days with Sparky one spring in Florida and he made a lasting impression on me and his death has made me very sad.

They said he was 76, but that’s irrelevant. With his white hair and craggy face, Sparky always looked 20 years older than he really was. His given name was George, but only his wife and childhood sweetheart, Carol, ever called him that. The last time anyone in baseball ever remembered him being called George was on his 1959 Topps baseball card, his one and only season as a player in the big leagues, a season in which he hit all of .218 with no homers in 152 games as the Phillies’ everyday shortstop.

His garbled syntax, repetitive double negatives, contradictory monologues and often outrageous hyperbole belied the genius of the man who went on to become a Hall of Fame manager with the Cincinnati Reds and Detroit Tigers, the only skipper in history to win world championships and have 100-win seasons in each league – in 1975-76 with the “Big Red Machine” Reds.

His unique style is what led me to choose him for a simple TV commercial for the building supply giant Georgia Pacific. The TV spot was not very memorable but somehow at spring training Sparky and I hit it off. I think he realized how thrilled I was to be around Major League Baseball.

We needed more Detroit players to fill in in some of the background shots so I was lucky enough to actually dress out with the team. I got to pitch, I got to bat and because it was too difficult to explain my presence on the diamond…I even got to sign autographs…my apologies to Tiger fans who may have thought I was a new prospect that year.

The highlight of the week was the day I pitched with Sparky at the plate…I did come very close to ending his managing career with my first pitch…I pitched him high and tight, under his chin…I was so nervous but after that pitch I settled down and performed admirably for an out of shape ad guy. Sparky applauded my placement which for a true baseball fan from birth was something I will always remember.

Everyday I got to hang out and talk about baseball and life with a true baseball legend. “You gotta be a psychologist in this job,” said Anderson. “The secret to managing is knowing your players and keeping them happy.”

As for losing, he said philosophically: “We don’t always get what we want in life. Don’t put your head between your legs. Just stand up and give the other guy credit and hope that someday you’ll get another chance. I never judge me. I have too much fun liking me.” I believe he lived his life that way.

He also told me before I left spring training to lose some weight and back then I was even that chubby. He asked me to walk a mile or two every day at least.

Sparky was our latter-day version of Casey Stengal, a beguiling old philosopher who never knew a question he couldn’t answer – in some way or another.

A sportswriter once told him reporters should be advised not to enter his office without wearing hip boots because of all the BS he’d be apt to toss around amid puffs of smoke from his pipe during the course of his customary hour-long pre-game sessions.

Baseball and all sports in general need more characters like Sparky.

I certainly would have guessed this.
The Evergreen State is living up to its nickname. According to Greenopia, Washington made the top stop because of its high number of LEED buildings, green businesses and renewable energy sources, such as Energy Northwest’s Nine Canyon Wind Project (pictured here during construction)

Can you believe New York is number three? They have more than 3000 green businesses.

While California confirmed its state’s marijuana legalization initiative would be on their ballot months ago, today the state assigned proposition numbers to this year’s slate of initiatives. Get used to hearing about Proposition 19, which is where you’ll get to vote to legalize marijuana in California.

The state restarts the counter for proposition numbers every ten years, last doing so in 2008 (hence why the gay marriage initiative was Prop 8). While it’s inevitable proposition numbers will be reused, the LA Weekly notes a strange coincidence in the legalization initiative’s number. When pot legalization was on the ballot in 1972, it was also Proposition 19.

The Secretary of State’s office says it was a coincidence. But you can’t put anything past the people who named the state’s medical marijuana bill SB 420.

Anyway, if you still have your Prop. 19 buttons and posters, you won’t have to go buy new ones.

As you already know, Prop. 19 failed in 1972. In fact, it wasn’t close. According to Ballotpedia, the measure went down by a vote of 66.5% to 33.5%. We’ll see this week how much attitudes have changed in the intervening 38 years.

The latest LA Times poll found 49% of Californians support marijuana legalization, with 41% opposed in May. Earlier that month, the Public Policy Institute found the state evenly split, with 48% supporting to 49% opposing.

More than 20 million pounds are sold each year!