Summation of Gratefulness

Gratefulness.org’s Word For the Day today:

I am, therefore I thank.

-Cindy Lubar Bishop

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The Inaugural 2008 (Public) Deck Sit

About the time Steve was knocking off work tonight, the topic of conversation turned to beer, as in Steve’s asking, “You have any around here, Mo!?”

Do I have any beer around? Oh, please!! A couple of bottles of Sierra Nevada 2006 Celebration Ale came out of the reefer and into the glasses and out we proceeded to the deck. It’s been in the low- to mid-70s during the day most of the week, so it wasn't at all uncomfortable.

We chatted about this and that, and were all quite impressed with the solar-charged night lights that Bob and I picked up at Home Depot last night.

Family, friends, a glass of good beer, doesn’t get much better…

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Could Georgia Really Do That?

On The Chatanoogan today:

Chattanooga Sending Truck Load Of Water To Atlanta
“Give Our Georgia Friends A Drink Day” Proclaimed

The city of Chattanooga, facing a possible Georgia land grab as part of an effort to get access to the Tennessee River, is sending a truck load of bottled water to Atlanta.

Mayor Ron Littlefield said the water will be delivered on Wednesday by his aide Matt Lea wearing a coonskin cap.

The mayor has officially proclaimed Feb. 27, 2008, as “Give our Georgia Friends a Drink Day.” The proclamation comes as a result of the Georgia Legislature passing a joint resolution that seeks to pursue reestablishing the boundary between Georgia and Tennessee.

The truck load of bottled water along with the proclamation will be delivered to the Georgia Legislature Wednesday morning.

“Please know that we are willing to help our neighbors to the south with this complimentary truck load of water,” said Mayor Littlefield. “And along with this water, we want to send Georgia legislators a message that focusing on conservation efforts would be much more productive than an ill-conceived land and water grab.”

The water is being donated by the Chattanooga Choo Choo and others. The truck is on loan from a local automobile dealership.

If you would like to donate water to be included, please drop off sealed bottles of water to City Hall, 1st floor, 101 East 11th Street, Chattanooga, until 4:30 p.m. today.

Mayor Littlefield said on Talk Radio on Tuesday that building a pipeline from the Tennessee River to Atlanta would be cost prohibitive.

He said it is uphill to Atlanta and the pipeline project would be the largest public works project ever in the Southeast.


PROCLAMATION

WHEREAS, it has come to pass that the heavens are shut up and a drought of Biblical proportions has been visited upon the Southern United States, and

WHEREAS, the parched and dry conditions have weighed heavily upon the State of Georgia and sorely afflicted those who inhabit the Great City of Atlanta, and

WHEREAS, the leaders of Georgia have assembled like the Children of Israel in the desert, grumbled among themselves and have begun to cast longing eyes toward the north, coveting their neighbor’s assets, and

WHEREAS, the lack of water has led some misguided souls to seek more potent refreshment or for other reasons has resulted in irrational and outrageous actions seeking to move a long established and peaceful boundary, and

WHEREAS, it is deemed better to light a candle than curse the darkness, and better to offer a cool, wet kiss of friendship rather than face a hot and angry legislator gone mad from thirst, and

WHEREAS, it is feared that if today they come for our river, tomorrow they might come for our Jack Daniels or George Dickel,

NOW THEREFORE, In the interest of brotherly love, peace, friendship, mutual prosperity, citywide self promotion, political grandstanding and all that

I, Ron Littlefield, Mayor of the City of Chattanooga, Tennessee,

Do hereby Proclaim that Wednesday, February 27, 2008 shall be known as

“Give Our Georgia Friends a Drink Day”

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One Down; How Many to Go?

This sounds interesting; here I go to Amazon to add it to the wish list…

From NPR’s Weekend Edition last Sunday:

Rehabbing a Villain from Henry VIII’s Court

In King Henry VIII’s vicious court of intrigue, Jane Boleyn kept her head low and followed the money.

Married to George Boleyn, brother of Anne, who would eventually become Henry’s queen, Jane won a place in the heart of the Tudor regime as Anne’s sister-in-law. Jane enjoyed many perks of court life, but she also had ringside seats to the dramas that unfolded in the king's court.

Author Julia Fox meticulously details Jane's life — and her role in the scandals that engulfed the court — in her first book, Jane Boleyn: The Infamous Lady Rochford.

For centuries, Jane Boleyn has been reviled. When Queen Anne was accused of adultery with several men, including her own brother — Jane’s husband, George - Jane was interrogated. Jealous of the close relationship between George and Anne, Jane provided testimony that helped lead to the siblings’ executions. Or so the story goes.

But Fox challenges this picture of Jane as a vindictive and opportunistic young woman. Re-examining the historical record, Fox suggests that Jane had no reason to risk her privileged life with George for penniless, landless widowhood. And she chronicles how Jane clawed her way out of obscurity and back up the court’s social ladder — attending to Henry VIII’s third, fourth and fifth wives.

It was Jane’s service to Henry’s fifth wife, the teenaged Catherine Howard (who was also Anne Boleyn’s first cousin) that proved her undoing. Jane passed messages from Catherine to her secret lover, Thomas Culpepper. Jane was eventually interrogated and executed for her role as go-between.

Liane Hansen spoke with Fox about Boleyn’s life and her place in history.

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England Swings Like…

…California!!!

From Bloomberg.com tomorrow morning:

England Hit by 5.2 Quake

By Kari Lundgren

Feb. 27 (Bloomberg) -- The U.K. was hit by its biggest earthquake since 1984 early today when a magnitude 5.2 temblor struck in Lincolnshire, eastern England, the British Geological Survey said.

The quake hit at 12:56 a.m. local time about 125 miles (200 kilometers) north of London and was felt across England.

Chimneys were damaged in homes near the town of Market Rasen, 5 miles from the epicenter, and one person was reportedly injured, according to the BGS. The agency said it was “inundated with calls from the public, media and emergency services throughout England.”

It was the largest quake in the U.K. since a 5.4 magnitude temblor hit the Lleyn Peninsula in Wales in 1984, the BGS said, adding such tremors usually occur in the country about every 30 years. It earlier reported the magnitude as 5.3. The U.S. Geological Survey measured the quake as magnitude 4.7 and said it was 6.2 miles deep.

“It felt like the roof was going to fall in,” the British Broadcasting Corp. cited Bev Finnegan, who lives in Market Rasen, as saying on its Web site. “There were people coming out in their dressing gowns and wondering what it was.”

An elderly man suffered leg injuries when a chimney collapsed in Wombwell, South Yorkshire, the BBC said.

The BGS said it records about 200 earthquakes in the U.K. every year and that about 25 are felt by people.

BGS seismologist Brian Baptie said in a statement today's temblor was a “significant earthquake for the U.K.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Kari Lundgren in London at klundgren2@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: February 27, 2008 00:17 EST

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Rain Numbers - 25 February 2008

.01", for today
3.52", for the storm
5.25", for the month
36.51", for the (rain) year

Yes, Mother…

On an insurance company solicitation envelope in the mailbox today:

IMPORTANT:

Do not deliver to wrong addressee
Do not bend, fold, spindle or mutilate
Do not lock your keys in the car
Do not wear brown shoes with a navy suit
Do not forget your mother’s birthday

And DO NOT pay too much for car insurance!

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Rain Numbers - 24 February 2008

1.14", for today
3.51", for the storm
5.24", for the month
36.50", for the (rain) year

Bumper Snicker

On the bumper of a Scion xB at the QuikStop after Mass this morning:

You say potato
I say tater

Rain Numbers - 23 February 2008

1.43", for today
2.37", for the storm
4.10", for the month
35.36", for the (rain) year

Charge!!!!!

Gratefulness.org’s Word For the Day today:

All attack is a call for help. When you know this, you begin at once to look deeply into the question of what kind of help is being called for.

-Neale Donald Walsch

Rain Numbers - 22 February 2008

.20", for today
.94", for the storm
2.67", for the month
33.93", for the (rain) year

It looked to me that the weather station wasn’t keeping up with the rain this morning, but Boulder-Creek.com had .20" for the day, too…

Rain Numbers - 21 February 2008

.26", for today
.74", for the storm
2.47", for the month
33.73", for the (rain) year

Hmmmm… It sure looked like the weather station wasn’t catching all the rain this afternoon, but when Dustin hopped up on the roof to check, all seemed well in the rain catcher. Boulder-Creek.com has .31" for the day, which isn’t too far off, so I guess I’ll just keep an eye on things. I really don’t want to have to call Davis and cry and complain about all the work they just got finished doing…

Rain Numbers - 20 February 2008

.08", for today
.48", for the storm
2.21", for the month
33.47", for the (rain) year

Rain Numbers - 19 February 2008

.40", for today
.40", for the storm
2.13", for the month
33.39", for the (rain) year

Yay!! The weather station is behaving!

To get things (more or less) back on track, I plugged the month and year numbers from Boulder-Creek.com into the console; we’ll see how that ends up working…

Travel Instructions

Gratefulness.org’s Word For the Day today:

The future is not some place we are going, but one we are creating. The paths are not to be found, but made. And the activity of making them changes both the maker and their (sic) destination.

-John Schaar

Your Part

Gratefulness.org’s Word For the Day today:

Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world’s grief. Do justly, now. Love mercy, now. Walk humbly, now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.

-The Talmud

Kindness in Action

Today’s Daily Thought from Real Simple:




Kindness is more important than wisdom, and the recognition of this is the beginning of wisdom.
— Theodore Rubin

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Who Died and Made Me????? God?

Our parish mission is this week, and Fr Gavin Griffith, who’s leading it, said the Masses this weekend. His sermon touched on several things, including his two favorite prayers, the Serenity Prayer and Fr Mychal Judge's prayer.

Father Mychal's Prayer:

Lord, take me where You want me to go;
Let me meet who You want me to meet;
Tell me what You want me to say
And keep me out of Your way.

Love Is Everything

Today’s Daily Reflection from the Society of the Little Flower:

Jesus does not look so much at the greatness of our actions, or even at their difficulty, as at the love with which we do them.

-St. Therese of Lisieux

And It Means Quite a Bit More than I Thought

Dictionary.com’s Word of the Day today:

Pestiferous!!

Dad Would Agree Wholeheartedly

The quote on The Literacy Site today:

Children are made readers on the laps of their parents.

-Emilie Buchwald


Actually, I think he’d say (were he inclined toward such slang) “Duh!!!”

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Wars and Maps

The quote on The Child Health Site today:

Wars against nations are fought to change maps; wars against poverty are fought to map change.

-Muhammad Ali

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Hunting Pheasants and Correct Spelling

We Regret the Error

Here’s a couple of examples:

The Guardian:
We misspelled the word misspelled twice, as mispelled, in the Corrections and clarifications column on September 26, page 30.

Daily Telegraph (UK):
APOLOGY: In Friday's article on Liz Hurley’s wedding it was wrongly stated that the actress is holding a pheasant shoot on the Sunday after the ceremony. Game shooting is of course illegal on Sundays and the pheasant season ended on Feb 1. We apologise for the error and accept that if any shooting is to be done it will be by the paparazzi, who have no season and do not observe the Sabbath.

Muslims vs Atheists

From Quotes of the Day, today:

Ask a deeply religious Christian if he’d rather live next to a bearded Muslim that may or may not be plotting a terror attack, or an atheist that may or may not show him how to set up a wireless network in his house. On the scale of prejudice, atheists don’t seem so bad lately.

- Scott Adams

Weather Behaving!

Well, maybe that should be the weather station (and console) behaving!

The weather station power made it through the night, and the console looks like it’s back to normal. Yay!!

Mañana, mañana

Today’s Daily Thought from Real Simple:




Tomorrow is often the busiest day of the week.
— Spanish Proverb

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Weather Station Returneth

It arrived back from Davis yesterday, safe and sound.

Bob and Dustin put it back together and got it mounted back up on the roof. The anemometer “tail feathers” are supposed to be aligned to the north (for correct calibration of wind direction readings) (and the photocell is supposed to be aligned to the south), and Bob had to root around through stuff somewhere to find his compass.

Then he wanted to know the angle of declination (number of degrees difference between where the compass needle points and true north {North Pole}). Um, yeah…

After poking around on Google a while, I finally found an online angle of declination calculator, at NOAA. Fill in the blanks, and voila! Angle of declination!

While they were being mechanical and all, I sat down to get the console up and running. Fortunately, Davis has the idiots’ manual online (even though the Vantage Pro is a discontinued model; gotta love it, eh?). Got the batteries in, the major settings (longitude, latitude, elevation; thank God for Google Earth) squared away, and the rain numbers fixed up (Boulder-Creek.com’s numbers are usually pretty close to ours), and noticed the console was complaining about low batteries (for itself, not the weather station, for once)…      :::sigh:::

Old batteries out, new batteries in, doublecheck the major settings, re-do the rain numbers; the weather station and console hooked up OK, and all seems well!

Hope in Winter

Today’s Daily Thought from Real Simple:



In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.

— Albert Camus

Camus came up Sunday: on the way to the Rite of Election at St Benedict in Hollister, I popped Neil Diamond’s Hot August Night in the CD player; Done Too Soon is the third track.

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And I Thought Santa Cruz and The People’s Republic…

…of Santa Monica were the West Coast looney tunes spots…

From the Merc this morning: Protesters off to early start outside Berkeley City Council chambers

Highlights:

“…The Berkeley City Council tonight is scheduled to revisit the council’s Jan. 29 approval of a resolution calling the U.S. Marines’ recruiting office on Shattuck Avenue “uninvited and unwelcome intruders.” The vote was 6-3 in favor.…”

and

“…What’s more, pro-military supporters will have to sit through another item likely to make them seethe: urging Canada to provide sanctuary for U.S. military war resisters.…”

My, my, my! I’m awfully glad I’m not going to anywhere near Berzerkely tonight. Let’s hope wisdom prevails.




In case the article has fallen off the Merc’s Web site already:

“A pre-dawn confrontation broke out this morning in Berkeley between peace activists and pro military groups, more than 12 hours before the City Council considers to rescind its statement telling the U.S. Marines they’re unwelcome in this left-leaning town.

“Police were forced to form a line between the two groups to keep them apart shortly after 6 a.m. at the park across Martin Luther King Jr. Way from old City Hall, where the City Council meets.

“An hour and a half later, the shouting continued, but there had been no arrests, a police dispatcher said.

“The Berkeley City Council tonight is scheduled to revisit the council’s Jan. 29 approval of a resolution calling the U.S. Marines’ recruiting office on Shattuck Avenue “uninvited and unwelcome intruders.” The vote was 6-3 in favor.

“The 6-3 vote on that item caused a nationwide backlash against the city, prompting Republicans in Washington and Sacramento to introduce legislation to take away money for things like school lunches and police communications equipment.

“Just about every City Council meeting in Berkeley includes protesters who show support or disdain for whatever is on the agenda.

“But tonight, the city is likely to host the mother of all meetings in its recent history. Councilman Gordon Wozniak, who opposed the council’s actions two weeks ago on the recruiting station, said he received 26,000 e-mails on the subject in the past 10 days (24,000 supporting the Marines, 2,000 against), and he is just one of nine council members.

““On a hot issue, we sometimes get a couple hundred e-mails,” Wozniak said. “I’ve never seen anything like this. I’m getting one every five minutes. It’s huge.”

“Today’s protests could bring upwards of 500 people from both sides. And hundreds of union members also are expected at the meeting to protest a separate item seeking to regulate a local steel foundry. Sacramento-based Move America Forward and a handful of other pro-military organizations are set to have several hundred protesters in front of council chambers starting at 5 a.m. On the other side, Code Pink, a women’s peace organization, was planning to camp out for 24 hours to argue the U.S. Marines should get out of town.

“Meanwhile, union workers are protesting a move to put restrictions on Pacific Steel Casting, which many in Berkeley blame for a persistent odor and health problems in some neighborhoods.

“All that for a meeting space with a capacity of 123.

“To accommodate tonight’s expected crowd of protesters and reporters, the city will broadcast the meeting outside on speakers.

“Move America Forward is already unhappy with what council members are not planning to do - rescinding four other items the council passed that are seen as a swipe at the Marines. Those items asked the city attorney to investigate whether the Marines are violating city law prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation; urged people to ‘impede’ the recruiting work of the Marines in Berkeley; and gave Code Pink a free parking space and sound permit to protest once a week in front of the recruiting station.

“The proposal by council members Betty Olds and Laurie Capitelli to rescind the item sending the Marines a letter asking them to leave is No. 25 of 28 items on tonight’s agenda, and could come up for debate near midnight. What’s more, pro-military supporters will have to sit through another item likely to make them seethe: urging Canada to provide sanctuary for U.S. military war resisters.

““Our organization has taken a stand that the council needs to apologize and rescind all the resolutions,” said Danny Gonzalez, communications director for Move America Forward. “We can only hope that one of the council members has the sense to make a change and re-evaluate their stance on all the issues.”

“By only rescinding the one item, the council, in effect, is still “attempting to get the Marines to leave,” Gonzalez said.

““They’re just trying to get the heat off, and that's not going to work,” Gonzalez said. “It’s empty; it’s not a genuine apology.”

“Code Pink is going to the meeting to thank the council for its actions against the recruiting station.

““We’re so pleased the council is taking a strong stand for peace, and we intend to be there in full force to let them know we support them,” said Zanne Joi, a Code Pink activist. “We trust the council will not be swayed by this vicious right-wing attack.”

“Joi said the reaction by people across the country angry the council asked the Marines to leave town shows the tide of public sentiment has long since turned against the war in Iraq.

““This violent reaction of the pro-war forces shows how threatened they are by a small group of people working against recruitment,” Joi said. “They claim the Marines fought for our freedom of speech, and how dare we use our freedom of speech against them.””

A Near-Indy/Columbus Experience

As I was at the front gate this morning, getting ready to leave for St John’s, I happened to look up and saw what looked like a small flock of Canada geese flying north! The birds were basic black (the sun hadn’t come over the ridge yet), but they were flying in basically a V formation, they had long necks, and their wing flapping looked a bit awkward, like Canada geese...

Cobbler… Pondkeeper… Cobbler… Pondkeeper…

…what’s the connection?

We did a lot of work on the little pond this week, and snippets of this kept popping out; don’t know why…

True Love

Today’s Daily Reflection from the Society of the Little Flower:

The meaning of love is to sacrifice yourself.
-St. Therese of Lisieux

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Little Things

Today’s Daily Reflection from the Society of the Little Flower:

When I feel nothing, when I am incapable of praying or practicing virtue, then is the moment to look for small occasions, nothings that give Jesus pleasure… a smile or a friendly word, when I would much prefer to say nothing at all.

-St. Therese of Lisieux

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I Saw Old Faithful Go Off!!

And from my very own living room!

Bob spotted a short piece in the Senile this afternoon about the National Park Service’s new streaming Webcam for the Old Faithful geyser in Yellowstone National Park.

To get to the new camera, point your browser to the Yellowstone Web site and click on the Photos and Multimedia button on the left side. That takes you to the Photos and Multimedia page, but also drops down the Photos and Multimedia menu. From either the page or the menu, click Webcams, which takes you to the Yellowstone Webcams page.

From here, you can look at the original Yellowstone Webcam. This shows real-time still images of Old Faithful which update every 30 seconds. It also shows the predicted time for the next eruption. Just below the Webcam image is a little graphic from The Weather Underground that shows the time and the temperature in ° Farenheit and Centigrade.

Back on the Yellowstone Webcams page, clicking on the Old Faithful Geyser Live! link near the top takes you to the page for the new and improved streaming Webcam.

Before clicking on the Launch Old Faithful Geyser Live!—Video WebCam link, please note that Windows Media Player (or equivalent) is required. ::::rolling eyes::::

I’m using the VLC media player from VideoLAN; it’s available for Windows, Mac (OS X only), and a ton of UNIX and LINUX flavors. VLC just works. I clicked on the live Webcam link, and it took over from there. What more can you ask for?

If you’re running Mac OS 8.1 through 9.x, VLC isn’t available, and I’m not sure what options other than Windows Media Player there are… Any road, Windows Media Player 7.1 is still around.

Once you’ve got your video viewer set and ready to go, click the link and enjoy!




Did you know? There are more people hurt by bison than by bears each year in Yellowstone. Park regulations state that visitors must stay at least 25 yards away from bison or elk and 100 yards away from bears.

Fiat Lux!

Bob tells me that, according to the morning’s Snapple cap, the state of Maine has 62 lighthouses. Google comes up with about 20,400 Maine lighthouse hits.

A Different Perspective on Listening

Gratefulness.org’s Word For the Day today:

Our listening creates a sanctuary for the homeless parts within another person.

-Rachel Naomi Remen

Falling, Falling, Falling in Love

On the spine of this month’s Real Simple:

A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person.

-Mignon McLaughlin

Joy

Today’s Daily Reflection from the Society of the Little Flower:

Joy isn’t found in the material objects surrounding us, but in the inner recesses of the soul. One can possess joy in a prison cell as well as in a palace.

-St. Therese of Lisieux

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