Getting spacey

A Year of Spectacular Comets
Two spectacular comets graced Earth's skies during 2007. Both comets became bright enough to be seen by the unaided eye of the casual sky enthusiast. Early in 2007, Comet McNaught grew brighter than any comet in 40 years, displaying a beautiful dust tail that flowed across the sky. Comet McNaught (c/2006 P1) became known as the Great Comet of 2007, sported unusual striations in its expansive dust tail, and showed unexpectedly complex chemistry in its ion tail. Toward the year's end, normally docile and faint Comet Holmes brightened suddenly and unexpectedly to naked eye visibility. Remarkably, Comet 17P/Holmes stayed bright for weeks even though it lies beyond the orbit of Mars. No distant comet in recent history has remained so bright for so long. In this view, a white Comet Holmes was photographed in early December posing with the Heart and Soul Nebulas.

Idle Curiosity

Take a peek at some of these images. I really like the aircraft carrier.

Link

And more good news

What are you going to do with all that cheap solar power from Nanosolar panels? How about replacing the internal combustion vehicle.

200MPG For Reals! Aptera Unveiled at TED

We've been hearing about the Aptera, the ultrahighmileage supervehicle from Accelerated Composites (aka Aptera Motors) for more than a year now. Steve Fambro and his merry band of geniuses over at AC let the math do the talking when it came to the design so that the car would be as aerodynamic as possible. Pair that with a super-efficient diesel hybrid engine, and the result is 200mpg. It's only fair to note that they originally predicted 330mpg, but we're cool with 200. It's also supposed to be pretty affordable (around $20,000), thanks to some magical carbon fiber fabrication process that AC won't really talk about. The actual prototype was unveiled at TED this past weekend in Monterey, and it looks like Batman's girlfriend's car. We just hope this thing actually goes into production instead of winding up in some museum. More pictures after the jump.
Link

From the company:
The Aptera was designed from the ground up as an electric vehicle, and later as an extended range electric vehicle. After building the proof-of-concept Mk-0, we hired the automotive design firm, 'eleven', to help us further develop the concept vehicle. The 'eleven' team, led by Jason Hill and Nathan Armstrong, made great strides in the development of the Aptera's body styling, interior design, and structural engineering. Meanwhile, we refined the Aptera's shape to maximize efficiency using CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics), developed and built advanced suspension and drivetrain components, and integrated a strong yet lightweight composite shell. Our entire process has been developed in-house exclusively by Aptera for the Aptera Typ-1. Our structural elements have undergone countless revisions of FEA (Finite Element Analysis) to be lightweight, robust, and manufacturable.
Link

Good News

This is the breakthrough anyone who wears even a tinge of 'Green' welcomes. I will now watch to see how the interests of what I call MegaCorp work to control and constrain the obvious benefits.

Solar energy 'revolution' brings green power closer
Panels start solar power 'revolution'

The holy grail of renewable energy came a step closer yesterday as thousands of mass-produced wafer-thin solar cells printed on aluminium film rolled off a production line in California, heralding what British scientists called "a revolution" in generating electricity.

The solar panels produced by a Silicon Valley start-up company, Nanosolar, are radically different from the kind that European consumers are increasingly buying to generate power from their own roofs. Printed like a newspaper directly on to aluminium foil, they are flexible, light and, if you believe the company, expected to make it as cheap to produce electricity from sunlight as from coal.

Yesterday Nanosolar said its order books were full until mid-2009 and that a second factory would soon open in Germany where demand for solar power has rocketed. Britain was unlikely to benefit from the technology for some years because other countries paid better money for renewable electricity, it added.

"Our first solar panels will be used in a solar power station in Germany," said Erik Oldekop, Nanosolar's manager in Switzerland. "We aim to produce the panels for 99 cents [50p] a watt, which is comparable to the price of electricity generated from coal. We cannot disclose our exact figures yet as we are a private company but we can bring it down to that level. That is the vision we are aiming at."

Link

A Quick Test

Could You Pass 8th Grade Science?

Think you know a thing or two about science? Take our short quiz to determine if you'd pass an 8th grade science test.

Link

Plaything

This is a handy little site that allows you to create voice files saying anything you want.

Link

For example: http://vozme.com/speech/en/a0dc71cc0bf733e23aa5e022a9699e88.mp3

Memories

This started out as a conversation with friend Tim in which I was trying to establish his experiences relative to my own. The discourse descended into 'Do you remember...' and one of the objects in question was Kukla, Fran and Ollie.

The resulting Google turned up a very delightful webby and I highly recommend streaming the Mikado bit.

There was a glimmer of a neuron firing in my childhood viewing which told me those characters were actually speaking of matters beyond my comprehension. It seems that in at least this one instance those twinges of perception were right.

While many remember Kukla, Fran and Ollie as hosts of the CBS Children's Film Festival, their original series (1947 - 57), was actually watched by more adults than children. This first show counted Orson Welles, John Steinbeck, Tallulah Bankhead and Adlai Stevenson among its many adult fans, and had sponsors like Life magazine and Ford Motor Co., who surely weren't trying to reach children. How did this happen? Click here to find out!
Link

The next battle

Bottled water has become ubiquitous but now faces challenges on two fronts. What brings this to mind was this story in the Washington Post.

The Water's a Must, but the Bottle Could Be Trouble

Retailers, Regulators and Researchers Wrestle With Whether Polycarbonate Containers Pose Health Risk

Catching his breath at a fitness club, Matt McHugh took a gulp of water from his trusty Nalgene plastic bottle and pondered the idea of switching to an alternative made of glass, stainless steel or another kind of plastic.

Worries about a hormone-mimicking chemical used in the bottles' construction led a major Canadian retailer to remove polycarbonate containers made by Nalgene and other manufacturers from store shelves in early December.

"It's definitely a concern, but I'd like to learn more before I make any decisions about my water bottles," McHugh, 26, a business manager for a reggae band, said with an easy laugh. "For now, I'll probably keep using my Nalgene until it breaks. It's indestructible, I've heard."

Link

While health is always a major concern, some cities are seeing water bottles from the perspective of waste management.

Water-bottle waste

Ubiquitous plastic water bottles, originally associated with a healthy lifestyle, aren't so healthy for the environment.

Aside from the fact that making so many individual water bottles creates a large carbon footprint, many of the plastics in the water bottles can be recycled only once. What is worse, in New Jersey, it has been estimated that up to 70 percent of plastic water bottles are not recycled at all. Instead, they end up in landfills or incinerators, where they pollute the environment. Nationwide, it is estimated that 2 million tons of plastic water bottles end up in landfills each year. The good news is that all of the problems associated with plastic water bottles are easily fixed by incor porating a few simple changes into our daily routine.

Switching from plastic to a reusable thermos or a glass is the best option. Filling the reusable container with tap or filtered water also makes sense. Recent reports show that up to 40 percent of the hyped "pure mountain spring water" we are buying actually comes from filtered tap water. There should be little difference in taste or quality between the two. Reus able containers help to save money, since people would not be constantly replacing their old water bottles, sometimes at more than $2 per bottle. Reus able containers are easy to clean, they can be refilled al most anywhere, and many containers hold more water than the average-size marketed water bottle, so they would have to be refilled less often.

Link

NEW YEAR, NEW LAWS

New Year brings bottled water tax

Retailers fear it will push customers out to suburbs

In her never-ending effort to maintain her health and appearance, Jill Walker credits bottled water with improving her digestion, maintaining her skin's elasticity and keeping her away from sugary soda.

The Chicago resident drinks one bottle in the morning after her workout. She tosses another into her bag to take to the office and finishes two more with dinner.
"It's a big part of my health regimen," she says. "When I'm properly hydrated, I can feel the difference in my muscles and my energy level."

Chicago is set to impose a 5-cent tax on bottled water on Jan. 1, becoming the first major U.S. city to demand such a surcharge. The move -- which officials predict will secure an extra $10.5 million annually -- will help the city plug a budget hole by building on the growing disdain for environmentally suspect.
Link

Words, words, words

Let's start with one which would unfortunately apply to this blog:

desuetude \DESS-wih-tood\ noun

: discontinuance from use or exercise : disuse

lahar (LAH-har) noun

An avalanche-like mudflow composed of volcanic debris and water,
originating on the slopes of a volcano.

[From Javanese lahar (lava). Javanese is a language spoken on the island
of Java, Indonesia. It has about 80 million speakers.]

kith \KITH\ noun

: familiar friends, neighbors, or relatives

I have heard this word used only in conjunction with 'kin', as in 'kith and kin'

An over-long hiatus

How about something amusing, like a bit of honesty?

PEOPLE WHO SHOULD BE BANISHED FROM CABLE TV

Sick of all the squawking heads on cable news?
Same here.

Cable news networks have stumbled on a cheap way to suck in viewers - by stocking their shows with screaming spin-meisters.

The hosts who pull in ratings aren't going anywhere, even though their ratings are puny compared with the least-watched sitcoms on network TV.

But what about their favorite pundits, the ones who have discovered that the more outlandish they are, the more airtime they get - truth be damned?

Perhaps it's time for a timeout, for some civil discourse at a critical time in our history - just as Americans prepare to select a new leader.

Here's hoping that cable executives ring in the new year by banishing the Worst Pundits on Cable TV News.

1. Ann Coulter

'I'm here. I'm not queer. And I'm not going away.'

Day job: syndicated columnist

Face time: on Fox, CNN and MSNBC

Her shtick: Verbal bomb-thrower

On 9/11 widows, "I've never seen people enjoying their husbands' death so much."

To a wounded Vietnam veteran, "People like you caused us to lose that war."

About the supremacy of Christians, "Jews need to be perfected."

On the planet, "God said, 'Earth is yours. Take it. Rape it. It's yours.' "

Coulter, who owns a home in Palm Beach, is a verbal arsonist and it's made her rich. She knows what TV hosts want and she happily gives it to them. Even liberals such as MSNBC's Chris Matthews can't resist putting her on the air. It serves her pocketbook, but not her country, or her party.

If you don't feel like reading the whole thing, here is the list of the talking heads mentioned:

1. Ann Coulter
2. William Donohue
3. Michael Musto
4. Al Sharpton
5. Juan Williams
6. Bernie Goldberg
7. Karl Rove
8. Dennis Miller

Link

Words that do some good

I love playing with words and expanding my vocabulary. Here is a good way to do both for a good cause. My efforts today got to four bowls (400) before I started getting stumped; how well will you do?

Free Rice

How to play

• Click on the answer that best defines the word.
• If you get it right, you get a harder word. If wrong, you get an easier word.
• For each word you get right, we donate 20 grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Program.

WARNING: This game may make you smarter. It may improve your speaking, writing, thinking, grades, job performance... (more)

Link

Moon Over Pigeon Point Lighthouse

This spectacular sky is mostly human-made. Once a year, the Light Station at Pigeon Point near San Francisco, California, USA is lit as it was over 100 years ago. During this time, light generated by five kerosene lamps pours through 24 rotating Fresnel lenses, warning approaching ships to stay away. Early last week, light emanating from the Pigeon Point Lighthouse was particularly picturesque because of a thin fog, also blurring the distant Moon. During the latter 1970s, the lighthouse was guarded by an 800 pound pig named Lester. In modern times, the light house is still active but has been supplied with a more efficient flashing aerobeacon.

Something to consider

Concrete, asphault and flooding seem to be keeping pace with each other as Boone gets covered by more and more pavement. A nursing home was forced to relocate because the evacuation had become an accepted measure of the severity of the flooding, perhaps a Stage Three (significant) event; 'have they moved them out of the home?'. Flooding of the mall parking was Stage One (common).

I doubt they will move the mall.

Permeable Pavement
Pavement system that allows water to seep through the surface, permitting natural filtration

Just as drinking water can be filtered to remove impurities, the soil particles filters rainwater percolating through soil on its way to surface waters and to groundwater aquifers, This important step in the natural process of water purification is bypassed when rainwater falls on impermeable pavement surfaces or roofs and is carried directly through storm drainage systems into waterways. Since engineered curb and gutter storm drainage systems are costly to design and build, use of permeable pavement systems can also result in a reduction of construction costs for developers or municipalities. Pervious pavements are also denoted as porous or open-graded pavement.

Pollution carried in rainwater runoff is another concern, especially in urban areas. Storm water flowing across streets and sidewalks picks up contaminants associated with air pollution particles, spilled oil, detergents, solvents, de-icing salts during freezing conditions , dead leaves, pesticides, fertilizer, and bacteria from pet waste. Natural filtration of water through soil is the simplest way to control these pollutants, and is a direct advantage of permeable pavement.

Link

Keeper

This is a keeper. I filed it under 'Politics'.

My favorite is from March 17, 2003:

With little international support, the U.S., Britain and Spain officially scrap the quest to obtain a new U.N. resolution on Iraq. Four and a half months have passed since U.N. Resolution 1441, and a new resolution would signal the world's belief that Iraq had failed the terms of that resolution and now faced the consequences. The 'Coalition of the Willing' announces it will enforce the U.N. resolution without the U.N.'s approval.

Lie by Lie: The Mother Jones Iraq War Timeline (8/1/90 - 6/21/03)

In this timeline, we've assembled the history of the Iraq War to create a resource we hope will help resolve open questions of the Bush era. What did our leaders know and when did they know it? And, perhaps just as important, what red flags did we miss, and how could we have missed them? This is the second installment of the timeline, with a focus on how the war was lost in the first 100 days.

Link

Back in action

Forces have an impact on environments. This is seen as we try to fathom global warming other challenges loom on the horizon.

Watch Out for Flying Moondust

Nov. 23, 2007: At Cape Canaveral, not far from the launch pad where the space shuttle lifts off, there's a ragged hole in a chain link fence. Its message: Watch out for flying boulders.

"The powerful exhaust of the shuttle's solid rocket boosters blasts concrete out of the flame trench below the engines," explains physicist Phil Metzger of the Kennedy Space Center (KSC). "On some launches, boulders of concrete up to a half meter wide are blown out as far as a half a kilometer away, traveling fast enough to shatter concrete light poles and punch through chain link fences."

This is no problem as long as people and equipment are kept at a safe distance, easily done. But, Metzger wonders, what if all this was happening on the Moon?

NASA is returning to the Moon in the next decade with plans to establish a durable outpost. There will be habitats, rovers, supply depots and mining equipment. Ships will be coming and going, landing and blasting off--and kicking up debris that might fly a lot farther than boulders at Cape Canaveral. Metzger is researching this problem as part of his work at KSC's Granular Mechanics and Surface Systems Lab.

"Boulders are no concern," he says. Lunar spacecraft will be far less massive than the space shuttle and they won't need such a powerful kick to escape lunar gravity. Movies made by six Apollo spacecraft of their landings and takeoffs showed nothing larger than gravel being rolled away by exhaust gases from the landing rockets.

Instead, Metzger is sweating the really small stuff--"moondust."

//snip//

Now, Metzger is helping other teams of NASA engineers figure out how to mitigate the effects of lunar landings and takeoffs. One strategy might be to locate spaceports in places where mountains and hills serve as natural dust blockers. Artificial berms or other ingenious structures might offer a solution, too.

Link

Blatant homerism Pt. 3

It was interesting a couple of years ago when a group of parents started activating for a new high school. The way things have gone lately, they may not have gained the victory they did.

Commissioners Approve Recommendation To Seek LEED Certification for High School
Story by Kathleen McFadden

At their regular meeting Monday morning, the Watauga County Board of Commissioners approved a recommendation from the high school subcommittee to seek LEED certification for the new Watauga County High School. Commissioners John Cooper and Winston Kinsey were not present at the meeting, but Jim Deal, Billy Ralph Winkler and Mary Moretz voted unanimously in favor of the proposal.

LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design and is a green building rating system—the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high-performance green buildings.

LEED certification requires independent, third-party verification that a building meets the highest green building and performance measures and promotes a whole-building approach by recognizing performance in five key areas of human and environmental health: sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality.

According to information from the U.S. Green Building Council, LEED certification offers a number of environmental and financial benefits:

• Lowers operating costs and increases asset value

• Reduces waste sent to landfills

• Conserves energy and water

• Provides a healthier and safer environment

• Reduces harmful greenhouse gas emissions

• Qualifies for tax rebates, zoning allowances and other incentives in hundreds of cities

Since the commissioners decided to construct a new school rather than try to renovate the existing facility, they have consistently voiced their intention to incorporate as many energy-saving and sustainable features into the school as possible.

At Monday’s meeting, County Manager Rocky Nelson mentioned several of those features: daylighting, rainwater capture and reuse, high-efficiency lighting, geothermal heating and cooling, computerized control systems and environmentally friendly materials.

LEED offers four certification levels: certified (the minimum level), silver, gold and platinum. Project architect Jennifer Sisak has proposed obtaining silver level certification for the new school.

Cost is involved, not only for the application fee and inspection, but also for the architect’s services in overseeing the process. The estimated cost to the county for the certification is $50,000 to $65,000, an amount that does not include engineering fees. However, the board of commissioners has approached LEED-certified faculty at Appalachian State University to provide those engineering services at no charge in exchange for permitting their students to participate in the process and obtain hands-on experience with the certification process.

“I personally believe LEED-certified facilities will be eligible for grants that non-LEED buildings won’t,” said Board Chair Jim Deal. “There is some cost up front, but the potential long-term savings are far greater. If we get LEED certification, we will be the only [such certified school] in this corner of the state.”

Link

Blatant homerism Pt. 2

And yes, we have a ski season.

One of the more significant losses which have resulted from being afflicted by MS is that I can no longer ski. Once I got turned onto the sport, around '81, I found a way to get as much time on the snow as possible. It started as being a 'rental rat' at Sugar Mountain to get an employee pass but eventually included a stint as the friendly lift attendant who made sure you knew you were remembered. This photo, if I am not mistaken, shows the lift house at the base of the 'to the top of the mountain' yellow lift which was my station.

Frigid fall opens ski slope early

From left, Sugar Mountain Ski Patrol members Todd Bolyea, Dirk Krause and Brad Blackwell prepare to tie tower padding to risky slopeside areas. Sugar Mountain began making snow on Tuesday morning and officially opened the slopes on Wednesday — its earliest ever. Brad Moretz of Appalachian Ski Mountain said the staff would test the slope’s new double-capacity pumping system Thursday and hopes to begin making snow immediately. “We are shooting to open by Friday [Nov.] 16,” he said.

Blatant homerism Pt. 1

One of the things I love about living here in the mountains is that not only do we have all four seasons but we also have them in proper measure. The summers are not too hot, the winters are not too cold, spring is truly the time of renewal but the star of the show is definitely fall.

Getting spacey

Saguaro Moon

A Full Moon rising can be a dramatic celestial sight, and Full Moons can have many names. For example, tonight's Full Moon, the one nearest the autumnal equinox in the northern hemisphere, is popularly called the Harvest Moon. According to lore the name is a fitting one because farmers could work late into the night at the end of the growing season harvesting crops by moonlight. In the same traditions, the Full Moon following the Harvest Moon is the Hunter's Moon. But, recorded on a trip to the American southwest, this contribution to compelling images of moonrise is appropriately titled Saguaro Moon.

A complex world

This is one of those interesting graphics which shows the complex web of ownership, production and development relations across the auto industry. All relevant text is contained within the chart.

Who owns who?
Sat nav won't help you find your way round the fast-changing global motor industry... You'll need a map

Link

Words, words, words

commove (kuh-MOOV) verb
*1 : to move violently : agitate
2 : to rouse intense feeling in : excite to passion
*** This seems to be the developing objective of some news programs

octothorpe (AHK-tuh-thorp) noun
: the symbol #
*** One of those things which actually has a name

habile (HAB-il) adjective
Having general ability; skillful.
*** I have long harbored this as one of my rarely used vocabulary words though now, with a clear definition, that will probably change

Some gas tips

This came via e-mail from my first chat friend, doctdore; '96 in case you are interested.

Here at the Kinder Morgan Pipeline where I work in San Jose , CA we deliver about 4 million gallons in a 24-hour period thru the pipeline.

One day is diesel the next day is jet fuel, and gasoline, regular and premium grades. We have 34-storage tanks here with a total capacity Of 16,800,000 gallons.

Only buy or fill up your car or truck in the early morning when the ground temperature is still cold. Remember that all service stations have their storage tanks buried below ground. The colder the ground the more dense the gasoline, when it gets warmer gasoline expands, so buying in the afternoon or in the evening....your gallon is not exactly a gallon.

In the petroleum business, the specific gravity and the temperature of the gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, ethanol and other petroleum products plays an important role.

A 1-degree rise in temperature is a big deal for this business. But the service stations do not have temperature compensation at the pumps.

When you're filling up do not squeeze the trigger of the nozzle to a fast mode. If you look you will see that the trigger has three (3) stages: low, middle, and high. In slow mode you should be pumping on low speed, thereby minimizing the vapors that are created while you are pumping. All hoses at the pump have a vapor return. If you are pumping on the fast rate, some of the liquid that goes to your tank becomes vapor. Those vapors are being sucked up and back into the underground storage tank so you're getting less worth for your money.

One of the most important tips is to fill up when your gas tank is HALF FULL or HALF EMPTY. The reason for this is, the more gas you have in your tank the less air occupying its empty space. Gasoline evaporates faster than you can imagine. Gasoline storage tanks have an internal floating roof. This roof serves as zero clearance between the gas and the atmosphere, so it minimizes the evaporation. Unlike service stations, here where I work, every truck that we load is temperature compensated so that every gallon is actually the exact amount.

Another reminder. If there is a gasoline truck pumping into the storage tanks when you stop to buy gas, DO NOT fill up--most likely the gasoline is being stirred up as the gas is being delivered, and you might pick up some of the dirt that normally settles on the bottom.

Hope this will help you get the most value for your money

Some hard facts

Yeah, gas prices are going up but those increases vary across the nation. This link provides a clear picture. Bet you don't have to zoom too far in to see how much you are paying.

Link

A 'MUST' share link

This helps to put the mideast in a clearer perspective.

Link

A short course in Ethics

I ran across this and was immediately led to consider the telecoms' insistence on immunity from prosecution in this light.

Of course for the Yahoo execs, the confinement and torture lasted only a few hours

Yahoo Chief Executive Jerry Yang and General Counsel Michael Callahan trod grimly up to the sacrificial alter in the chambers of the House Foreign Affairs Committee today and laid themselves open for evisceration over the company’s cooperation in the 2004 arrest of Chinese journalist Shi Tao and his 10-year sentence for offending the state. The lawmakers did not hold back.

“While technologically and financially you are giants, morally you are pygmies,” railed Committee Chairman Tom Lantos, D-Calif. Lantos made it clear he was not buying Yahoo’s story that because of a poorly translated document, it only belatedly discovered that the request for Shi’s records was related to a questionable “security” investigation (see “It was the Chinese word for ‘quisling’ that threw us“). “This was inexcusably negligent behavior at best and deliberately deceptive behavior at worst,” said Lantos. Twice. For purposes of extra shaming, the committee seated Shi Tao’s mother right behind Yang and Callahan, and at Lantos’ directive, they turned and bowed in apology, leading her to break out in tears.

The Yahoo duo vainly continued to defend their company’s actions. “I cannot ask our local employees to resist lawful demands and put their own freedom at risk, even if, in my personal view, the local laws are overbroad,” Callahan said. Replied Lantos, “I do not believe that America’s best and brightest companies should be playing integral roles in China’s notorious and brutal political repression apparatus.” Committee members were also unhappy at the pair’s vague answers about whether Yahoo would somehow compensate Shi’s family (”You’re one of the richest companies in the country, and you don’t know whether you can provide for the humanitarian needs for a couple of families?” asked Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif.), and whether it would continue to accede to such data demands. Callahan would say only that in going into new markets, “I would hope to have a structure in place … that we would be able to resist those demands or have that data not be accessible.” And Yang promised that in the future, “we’ll take more responsibility both morally and ethically.”

Link

And the Word is...

I was in the act of readying this item for posting when I saw that it is an operation based in Unicoi, Tennessee. Unicoi is an interesting community in its own right, but back to the subject at hand (<--- awards himself ten 'Cliche' points). How about 'but to refocus on the topic?

This presents an interesting question. What is the Christian role in economics? Perhaps a challenge we can all accept is to examine our own personal feelings and beliefs to determine what we hold as their purpose and role in relation to the economy.

The Trinity Foundation is pleased to announce the fourth annual
Christian Worldview Essay Contest
First Prize $3,000
Second Prize $2,000
Third Prize $1,000

The topic of the 2008 Christian Worldview Essay Contest is the book
Freedom and Capitalism: Essays on Christian Politics and Economics
by John W. Robbins. Each person who enters the contest must
read this book and write an essay about it. The book is available for
$15.00 (retail price: $29.95) per copy, postpaid to U. S. addresses.

The Trinity Foundation
Post Office Box 68
Unicoi, Tennessee 37692
www.trinityfoundation.org
423.743.0199

Link

A profound Bible verse 'leads' on the group's home page.

For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare [are] not fleshly but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. And they will be ready to punish all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.
2 Corinthians 10:4,5

So how did I get here? It started at one stop on my morning prowl where the headline 'GOP chairman probes six major televangelists' caught my eye. The story noted that the watchdog group Trinity Foundation had stirred the pot.

CBS also reports that Sen. Grassley's letters were prompted in part by Ole Anthony, an investigator with the Trinity Foundation, a religious watchdog group that probes potential fraud among religious groups.

The concept behind the essay is almost fundamental and one which demands scrutiny.

One step at a time

Running across this site elicited a 'mea culpa'. If I had only known! You can be guaranteed I will act more appropriately in the future. This is the cyber equivalent of changing your lights to CFLs.

Green Web Hosting

Greenest Host is committed to changing the Internet web hosting landscape one website at a time, by offering zero emissions web hosting. Switching your hosting to Greenest Host is easy. We power all of our servers with 100% renewable solar energy 100% of the time.

Link

Another one to keep handy

Little things CAN count. There is a vast universe of possibilities for each of us to have an impact by simply reaching out beyond ourselves. Consider this the 'Webcrawlers Guide to Volunteerism'.

Want to Start Volunteering?

There are hundreds of ways to help out. With VolunteerMatch, it's never been easier to find a rewarding way to give back and make a difference.

Link

One for your toolbox

A boyhood buddy (Chip) just shared this with me. If you have an interest in the looming election it would be good to keep handy.

pollster.com

Mars Express Probes The Red Planet's Most Unusual Deposits

This is one of those things that has a firm and guiding grasp of my 'curious', directing me to see what it is about. In this case, the object of curiosity could be many things; an insignificant factoid destined to be lost in an avalanche of data, a piece of the puzzle that is Mars which can be placed properly only after larger and clearer pictures are assembled or a major break through.

THAT is what grabs my interest.

Mars Express Probes The Red Planet's Most Unusual Deposits
The radar system on ESA's Mars Express has uncovered new details about some of the most mysterious deposits on Mars: The Medusae Fossae Formation. It has given the first direct measurement of the depth and electrical properties of these materials, providing new clues about their origin.

The Medusae Fossae Formation (MFF) are unique deposits on Mars. They are also an enigma. Found near the equator, along the divide between the highlands and lowlands, they may represent some of the youngest deposits on the surface of the planet. This is inferred from the marked lack of impact craters dotting this terrain, unlike on older terrain. Mars Express has been collecting data from this region using its Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionospheric Sounding (MARSIS). Between March 2006 and April 2007, Mars Express orbited the region many times, taking radar soundings as it went.

For the first time, these radar soundings revealed the depth of the MFF layers, because of the time it took for the radar beam to pass through the top layers and bounce off the solid rock beneath. "We didn't know just how thick the MFF deposits really were" says Thomas Watters, lead author of the results at the Center for Earth and Planetary Studies, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution, USA.

"Some investigators thought they might be a thin veneer overlaying topographic rises in the lowlands. The new data show that the MFF are massive deposits over 2.5 km thick in some places where MARSIS orbits pass over them," Watters added. The MFF deposits intrigue scientists because they are associated with regions that absorb certain wavelengths of Earth-based radar. This had led to them being called 'stealth' regions because they give no radar echo. The affected wavelengths are 3.5 to 12.6 centimetres. MARSIS, however, works at wavelengths of 50 to over 100 metres. At these wavelengths, the radar waves mostly pass through the MFF deposits creating subsurface echoes when the radar signal reflects off the plains material beneath.

More

About those words

I prowled across this little tidbit this evening, although I think it was a 'leftover':

Conventional wisdom (CW) is a term coined by the economist John Kenneth Galbraith in The Affluent Society, used to describe certain ideas or explanations that are generally accepted as true by the public.
Link

It appeared in a discourse on 'framing' which is well worth the read.
Link

Words, words, words

xerophagy (zi-ROF-uh-jee) noun
The eating of dry food, especially food that's cooked without oil
*** Another 'xero-' word is xeroscaping or landscaping for no or minimal roisture

fata morgana \fah-tuh-mor-GAH-nuh\ noun
mirage

hare \HAIR\ verb
to go swiftly : tear
*** an interesting definition of a common word

A bit about fandom

First, the spiffy graphic that started this...
This brought to mind one of my pet gripes; the malalignment of the divisons in major league baseball. The numbers are even and it should be rather simple. Thirty teams in two 15-team leagues playing in three five-team divisions each. Not for the folks at MLB. Instead of that clean, simple arrangement, even the very foundations are skewed.

Instead, we now have 16 teams in the National League and 14 in the American. You would think that with two rounds of expansion that could have been corrected but there was a fly in the ointment. It all revolves around Milwaukee.

The team now known as the Milwaukee Brewers of the National League began life as the Portland Pilots of the American League. The first years in there new home, the team remained a part of the American League West. During that time, a rivalry with the neighboring Chicago White Sox was beginning to blossom with fan trips to the opposing park and the like. It promised to become the Pale Hose' equivalent of the Cubs-Cardinals traditional animosity.

Enter Bud Selig, owner of the Brewers, who is now the head of Major League Baseball, a move which neccesitated divesting himself of the franchise. He was the one who insisted on moving the Brewers into the National League, in part to placate the disconcerted and abandoned the long-time Milwaukee Braves fans following the move of that team to Atlanta. As an aside, the Braves themselves were fairly recent arrivals in the midwest, having started life as the Boston Braves.

As a result, the National League has two five-team divisions and the Brewers' six-team division while the American League has two five-team divisions and one four-team division. Throw interleague play on top of the need for fairness and you have a scheduling nightmare. The solution, however, is quite simple.

Return the Brewers to the American League Central divison and move Kansas City the now under-sized American League West to join their heartland brothers the Texas Rangers, planting the seeds of a natural rivalry.

This rant could used a lot of documentation and I bet wiki would have been a great help; perhaps on a later day.

I was thinking of going on about the unique situation of having two professional teams in a town but I will save that for later as well.

You never can tell...

Wandering about with my curiosity leading me to the edges, I quite naturally was curious enough to give thirdeyeconcept.com a look. One item, Mystery of the Black Triangle UFOs, immediately drew interest because of a past incident. A distinctly similar gizmo was sighted over Phoenix, AZ around the millenium, causing quite a stir.

UFOs are reported in all kinds of different shapes and sizes. From round, ball-like shapes, square boxes, cigars, to the traditional flying saucer. Out of all of these configurations, triangular-shaped UFOs seem to be receiving more attention and publicity recently.

Beginning in the early 1980's many countries, including the United States, have experienced mass-sightings of triangle UFOs, all with similar characteristics such as shape, sound, lighting and flight patterns. Seen with increasing frequency, several excellent photos and videos have been taken of these strange craft. Nevertheless, despite these photos, no good explanation has yet surfaced to account the nature of these remarkable UFOs. Link

One passage in particular, "One of these bases was NATO controlled near the city of Glons..." has the potential of being one of those 'what is going on with that?' things. How many bases staffed by who and paid for by whom? The 'where?' is a given.

I will share any nuggets.

Recommended reading

This comes from Larry Sabato's Crystal Ball. While not written by Sabato, who nailed the '06 elections, coming from his webby sure adds credibility. Number wonks and and those with an interest in politics will love the graphs and tables.

HILLARY'S 2006 SENATE RUN: A HARBINGER OF ELECTABILITY?
By Rhodes Cook
Senior Columnist

Much of the growing sense of inevitability about Hillary Clinton's bid for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination revolves around the issue of electability. Polls show her running well these days against prospective Republican opponents, which she buttresses with references to the breadth of her own landslide Senate reelection victory last fall in New York.

But that race is a story with two sides. There is no doubt that a case for "Hillary the Vote Getter" can be made with cold, hard facts. She was reelected in 2006 with 67 percent of the vote, 12 percentage points better than her first run in 2000. She won 58 of the Empire State's 62 counties (after carrying only 15 six years earlier). And she swept every region of the state, most notably the vast Republican-oriented upstate sector, by comfortable margins. The latter is a clear demonstration, her proponents say, of her ability to make inroads in "Red America" on a wider scale in 2008.

More

For Football fans

First a bit of homerism.

Because I am an unabashed Appalachian State Mountaineer (ASU)football fan I enjoyed the back-to-back national championships and the unfortunately waning prospects of a three-peat. It is tough to dominate when your defense is just good enough to keep you in games. I get a good look early Saturday morning at the tailgaters lining the approaches to the stadium and preparing for a day of revelry. It is a stark contrast with the crowds twenty years ago.

A handful of hardy souls would set up grills and some even went to the extreme of erecting a cabana. As the football team got better, the crowds grew. Now, ASU is among the leaders in NCAA FCS (I sure hope the marketing genius who came up with that garble of letters to replace the clear and elegant 1AA did not get promoted), finishing third in attendance in 2006 with averaging crowds of 20,546 over 9 games. A look at the figures shows those extra games tend to make a significant difference in not only total attendance but in average as well.There is a bit of a skew in that data.Those extra games are played by winning teams and you know how everyone loves a winner. What better evidence is there of that than the mania which swept Boone in the wake of their upset of Michigan. That is reflected in the skyrocketing gates this year.

Appalachian Among National Leaders in Attendance Figures
by Appalachian Sports Information

October 18, 2005 - BOONE, N.C. — Appalachian State University football ranks among the nation’s top three in both average attendance and average percentage of capacity, according to the latest I-AA statistics released by the NCAA on Tuesday.

Appalachian has averaged 22,377 fans per game at Kidd Brewer Stadium this season, good for third nationally behind only Tennessee State (25,342 per game) and Montana (23,506).

But on to the reason for this posting...

There was an interesting piece in the Winston-Salem Journal. While focusing on scoring in the Southern Conference, I think the trends elucidated could easily apply to all college football. I offer as evidence the record of the Oregon Ducks who have put up 43.75 points per game in going 7-1 and earning #4 national BCS rating. Lazy me did not work the stats to see if there was (and there probably is) a higher scoring team. Pro football is a different game.

More Points: Offenses have been clicking this season, particularly in the Southern Conference

By Tommy Bowman

JOURNAL REPORTER

Do you like high-scoring football games?
Check out the Southern Conference this season.
Five SoCon teams rank in the top 15 in scoring offense among the 116 that compete in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision.

Appalachian State, Georgia Southern, The Citadel, Wofford and Elon are all averaging between 35 and 39 points a game. Any of those five averages would have led the league in scoring last season.

There are some interesting quotes in the story.

(Furman coach Bobby) Lamb said: “Whether you’re a Spread team that passes the ball or a Spread team that runs the ball, it’s effective. A team like Appalachian spreads you out to run, and a team like Elon spreads you out to throw…. The Spread offense has really produced scoring in this league.”

and

Other factors for increased scoring range from more plays per game because of this season’s changes in play-clock rules, as well as offenses starting in better field position than before because kickoffs are now made from the 30-yard line.

“Common sense will tell you, the more opportunities you get with the football in your hands the more chances you have to score points,” Coach Chris Hatcher of Georgia Southern said. Teams in the SoCon are averaging 15 more plays a game than last season.

Link

As Cenk would say, 'Just saying'.

Getting Spacey

A cosmic bridge of stars, gas, and dust stretches for over 75,000 light-years and joins this peculiar pair of galaxies cataloged as Arp 87. The bridge is strong evidence that these two immense star systems have passed close to each other and experienced violent tides induced by mutual gravity. As further evidence, the face-on spiral galaxy on the right, also known as NGC 3808A, exhibits many young blue star clusters produced in a burst of star formation. The twisted edge-on spiral on the left (NGC 3808B) seems to be wrapped in the material bridging the galaxies and surrounded by a curious polar ring. While such interactions are drawn out over billions of years, repeated close passages should ultimately result in the merger of this pair of galaxies into a larger single galaxy of stars. Although this scenario does look peculiar, galactic mergers are thought to be common, with Arp 87 representing a stage in this inevitable process. The Arp 87 pair are about 300 million light-years distant toward the constellation Leo. The prominent edge-on spiral at the far left appears to be a more distant background galaxy and not involved in the on-going merger.

See? I wasn't joking about Saturday

Forum ignites interest in county plan
By Scott Nicholson

A local conservation partnership hopes to spark discussion between Watauga County and its towns as the next county comprehensive plan begins to take shape.

The Partnership for Watauga’s Future, a non-profit organization not formally affiliated with county government, formed in 2001 to address and discuss land-use issues, sparked mostly by debate over a high-impact land-use ordinance drafted by the county.

The partnership sponsored a program Saturday in Boone to bring together several different planning issues with the goal of building interest in the comprehensive plan.

The program featured presentations on steep slopes, flooding, “walkability” and promoting more sustainable techniques in local businesses.

Kathy Copley, president of the Partnership for Watauga’s Future, said the group was interested in the county’s comprehensive plan and hoped to stimulate more citizen participation. “We had people at the meeting to describe how the plan was shaping up, to become acquainted with the process and what we hope to do,” Copley said. “Our meetings are designed to encourage participation.”

//more//

All about waterboarding

One project which was rolling around in my head was to find an authoritative source that supports the premise the waterboarding does not yield useful intelligence. Through the serendipity of the internet, in this case chatting in IM with a dear net friend, I was led back to one of my earlier web 'homes' from whence I was led to this goodie. It is hard to find anyone more qualified to speak on this issue.
Waterboarding is Torture… Period (Updated)

I’d like to digress from my usual analysis of insurgent strategy and tactics to speak out on an issue of grave importance to Small Wars Journal readers. We, as a nation, are having a crisis of honor.

Last week the Attorney General nominee Judge Michael Mukasey refused to define waterboarding terror suspects as torture. On the same day MSNBC television pundit and former Republican Congressman Joe Scarborough quickly spoke out in its favor. On his morning television broadcast, he asserted, without any basis in fact, that the efficacy of the waterboard a viable tool to be used on Al Qaeda suspects.

Scarborough said, "For those who don't know, waterboarding is what we did to Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who is the Al Qaeda number two guy that planned 9/11. And he talked …" He then speculated that “If you ask Americans whether they think it's okay for us to waterboard in a controlled environment … 90% of Americans will say 'yes.'” Sensing that what he was saying sounded extreme, he then claimed he did not support torture but that waterboarding was debatable as a technique: "You know, that's the debate. Is waterboarding torture? … I don't want the United States to engage in the type of torture that [Senator] John McCain had to endure."

In fact, waterboarding is just the type of torture then Lt. Commander John McCain had to endure at the hands of the North Vietnamese. As a former Master Instructor and Chief of Training at the US Navy Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape School (SERE) in San Diego, California I know the waterboard personally and intimately. SERE staff were required undergo the waterboard at its fullest. I was no exception. I have personally led, witnessed and supervised waterboarding of hundreds of people. It has been reported that both the Army and Navy SERE school’s interrogation manuals were used to form the interrogation techniques used by the US army and the CIA for its terror suspects. What was not mentioned in most articles was that SERE was designed to show how an evil totalitarian, enemy would use torture at the slightest whim. If this is the case, then waterboarding is unquestionably being used as torture technique.

One passage stands out in support of my propositon.

On a Mekong River trip, I met a 60-year-old man, happy to be alive and a cheerful travel companion, who survived the genocide and torture … he spoke openly about it and gave me a valuable lesson: “If you want to survive, you must learn that ‘walking through a low door means you have to be able to bow.’” He told his interrogators everything they wanted to know including the truth. They rarely stopped. In torture, he confessed to being a hermaphrodite, a CIA spy, a Buddhist Monk, a Catholic Bishop and the son of the king of Cambodia. He was actually just a school teacher whose crime was that he once spoke French. He remembered “the Barrel” version of waterboarding quite well. Head first until the water filled the lungs, then you talk.

//more//

Want to hear the same thing from some heavy brass?
It's Our Cage, Too
Torture Betrays Us and Breeds New Enemies
By Charles C. Krulak and Joseph P. Hoar
Thursday, May 17, 2007; Page A17

Fear can be a strong motivator. It led Franklin Roosevelt to intern tens of thousands of innocent U.S. citizens during World War II; it led to Joseph McCarthy's witch hunt, which ruined the lives of hundreds of Americans. And it led the United States to adopt a policy at the highest levels that condoned and even authorized torture of prisoners in our custody.

Fear is the justification offered for this policy by former CIA director George Tenet as he promotes his new book. Tenet oversaw the secret CIA interrogation program in which torture techniques euphemistically called "waterboarding," "sensory deprivation," "sleep deprivation" and "stress positions" -- conduct we used to call war crimes -- were used. In defending these abuses, Tenet revealed: "Everybody forgets one central context of what we lived through: the palpable fear that we felt on the basis of the fact that there was so much we did not know."

We have served in combat; we understand the reality of fear and the havoc it can wreak if left unchecked or fostered. Fear breeds panic, and it can lead people and nations to act in ways inconsistent with their character.

The American people are understandably fearful about another attack like the one we sustained on Sept. 11, 2001. But it is the duty of the commander in chief to lead the country away from the grip of fear, not into its grasp. Regrettably, at Tuesday night's presidential debate in South Carolina, several Republican candidates revealed a stunning failure to understand this most basic obligation. Indeed, among the candidates, only John McCain demonstrated that he understands the close connection between our security and our values as a nation.

//more//
Charles C. Krulak was commandant of the Marine Corps from 1995 to 1999. Joseph P. Hoar was commander in chief of U.S. Central Command from 1991 to 1994.

Brain food

One of the benefits gained from attending YearlyKos was that a sample copy of Seed magazine fell into my possession. Featuring stories like 'What is Life?', 'Beyond Biodiversity', 'The Living City' and 'Before the Big Bang', it provided both distraction and amusement for what was a tortuous journey home. If my coffers were in better shape, I would get a subscription but I am going to have to be content accessing it online.

A Profound Sense of Time
PZ Myers on the process that prompts the growth of all vertebrates from embryos to unspecialized segments to multicellular animals.
by PZ Myers

One of the fundamental features of the organization of multicellular animals is segmentation: We are initially built by subdividing a relatively undifferentiated embryonic tissue into smaller, repeated elements, like a stack of mostly identical building blocks. Look at an earthworm or a caterpillar or a maggot, and the organization is clear, with the wormlike animal showing the obvious seams and subdivisions that constitute its assembly from rings of similar chunks of tissue. Another property of this pattern of organization is that individual segments can then acquire specializations. In a caterpillar, the front end is modified with mouthparts and sense organs to form a head, while other segments will bear stubby limbs or be festooned with bristles or colored spots and patterns. Specialization is carried further when a maggot becomes a fly. Segments become much more obscure, retaining their visible identity in the abdomen, but are otherwise fused, elaborated upon, and display new features, such as wings or legs or mouthparts, that make the segments, ultimately, look very different from one another.

We vertebrates were also overtly segmented animals early in our embryonic development. As with the fly, the nature of our construction from similar blocks of tissue has been obscured by later additions in development, with limbs patched on and some segments (like human tails) reduced to near invisibility. Others (like significant portions of our brains) have been telescoped, contorted, and fused so that the boundaries between the original segments are detectable only to sensitive molecular probes. As with the fly's abdomen, we also retain some still apparent vestiges: the chain of vertebrae in our backs and the muscles of our torsos.

//more//

Close Encounters of the Third Kind

In browsing about the net you run across things which reinforce your beliefs, things which challenge core assumptions, things which delight with beauty and things which astound. This link, providing a recounting of an encounter with a real life (skepticism suggested) ET, gets filed under "Proof Required".

Extraterrestrials Among Us
A University of Mexico tenured medical professor who met with an extraterrestrial, posing as an ordinary civilian, helps corroborate claims of Human Extraterrestrials living among us. This professor was also a senior member of the Mexican Atomic Energy Commission. The Professor used the pseudonym of ‘Prof Hernandez’ and worked with a Mexican journalist, Zitha Rodriguez to release details of his contact in the early 1970's.

It all began in 1972, with a voice in his head, leading him to scientific breakthroughs in his own medical research in immunology which brought him special recognition by his peers.

Professor Hernandez knew the ideas were not his own, because he had no background in developing them. They came to his mind full blown, as though someone who knew perfectly well what he was talking about had explained them to him in detail. Later in that year he was approached by the author of that voice in his head, and it turned out to be a beautiful extraterrestrial woman who said he could call her Elyense, which he changed to LYA for short. She met him several times on the University Campus before she went any further.

LYA wore a dark pantsuit of some very fine material that the professor could not quite identify. She had dark eyes and wore dark hair shoulder length. She walked our streets and breathed our ambient air with no difficulty. She even drank fruit juice with him at a sidewalk lunch table as they talked. She was obviously far better educated than Hernandez, and he was considered one of his country's foremost scientists.

When the professor questioned LYA's extreme intelligence and the source of her superior knowledge, she took him into her confidence and told him that she was not from this planet -- that she came from another world in a group of stars we called Andromeda. He thought she meant the Andromeda Galaxy at first.

//more//

This issue deserves attention

The author is a local activist. He is the founder of a group that has Mountain Top Removal as a focus issue.

Demand for coal destroys mountaintops
BofA and Duke Energy contribute to practice that hurts environment

This week's protest of Charlotte-based Bank of America's practice of financing companies who strip mine coal in West Virginia, Kentucky and Virginia raised concerns that should be of interest to all North Carolinians. The Rainforest Action Network hung a huge banner off a crane in front of the Bank of America building that dominates the skyline of downtown Charlotte. The sign read, "Financing Coal, Killing Communities."

Many of us are not aware of all the mining practices of coal giants such as Arch Coal and Massey Energy. Besides the familiar underground mining, they blow up mountains in Appalachia to get down to the coal, and push the waste and debris into surrounding valleys.

Known appropriately as mountaintop removal, this practice has leveled more than 470 Appalachian mountains and buried or polluted thousands of miles of mountain streams -- streams at the headwaters of the drinking water supply of millions of Americans. Blasting and flooding from mountaintop removal are also devastating families and communities in the mountains and leaving the economy of central Appalachia in shambles.

//more//

Where I was Saturday

As a board member I felt obliged to attend but I truly was interested. My contribution was to bring a platter of finger sandwiches. Attendence was between 35-40 and I volunteered to be one of the evaluators for the 'Green Business' program. My mind is whirling with ideas and I need to make a couple of contacts this coming week.

“The Future of Watauga County Planning and You”
Saturday, Oct. 27, 2 p.m.
Boone Town Council Chambers
Sponsored by the Partnership for Watauga’s Future

The Program at a Glance:
Welcome & introductions … Kathy Copley
Boone’s Walkability Assessment … Blake Brown
Creating a “Green Business Plan” … David Ponder
Hazardous Slope Mapping … Rick Wooten
Hazardous Slope Legislation … D.J. Gerken
New Watauga River Flood Maps … John Callahan
Comprehensive Planning in Watauga

“The Future of Watauga County Planning and You,” a program organized around some of the county’s most pressing land-planning issues and the practical impacts of those topics on ordinary homeowners, will be presented on Saturday, October 27, at the Boone Town Council Chambers on Blowing Rock Road.

Attendees will be given basic overviews of a number of hot topics, to be followed by informational Q&A with authorities. “The idea is for our members to get all the basic points on steep-slope issues, for example, or the upcoming comprehensive plan,” said program organizer Kathy Copley. “It’ll be like ‘Community Issues for Beginners,’ with additional resources available for people who would like to learn more.”

A highlight of the program will be a presentation by Rick Wooten of North Carolina Geologic Survey (NCGS), whose team has been gathering detailed information for its current Watauga County landslide hazard mapping project. Wooten will discuss mapping methodology and preliminary findings from the project (which will be formally delivered to the County Commission in a public session at a later date). For example, in the infamous 1940 flood in Watauga County, when some 10 inches of rain fell over the course of six hours, there were over 2,000 documented “slope failures” in the county, with rock, dirt, and vegetation moving rapidly and catastrophically down-slope as debris flows. Many of those flow tracks have been located and will be mapped.

D.J. Gerken of the Southern Environmental Law Center will update the group on Saturday about the status of the statewide hazardous slope bill introduced in the N.C. legislature in 2007 and now referred to a study commission.

Also on Saturday will be an explanation and overview of the county’s new comprehensive planning process being launched this fall. Ordinary citizens will have several ways to participate and influence the “visioning” of what Watauga County should be in the future.

Also on the program on Saturday will be updates on the newest flood maps for the Watauga River basin in western Watauga County presented by Dr. John Callahan, and Boone’s “walkability assessment” and its implications for traffic flow presented by Boone’s Director of Public Works Blake Brown, and an update on the “green business plan,” launched in 2007 by the Watauga County Economic Development Commission, presented by David Ponder.

The meeting on Saturday, sponsored by the Partnership for Watauga’s Future (PWF), will begin with refreshments at 1:30 p.m. The program will begin at 2:00 p.m. It is free and open to the public.

Sharing

One of my objectives in doing this blog is to share. This morning's web prowl serves as an excellent ample and for that reason I will take you along with me on the first real trek of the day going beyond my normal routine.

It starts in my in box where I found the daily offering from the NYT. I usually just note the headlines but today I was attracted to this item:

Rethinking Fire Policy in the Tinderbox Zone
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/28/us/28threat.html?th&emc=th

This section caught my eye :

“California has lost 1.5 million acres in the last four years,” said Richard A. Minnich, a professor of earth sciences who teaches fire ecology at the University of California, Riverside. “When do we declare the policy a failure?”

Fire-management experts like Professor Minnich, who has compared fire histories in San Diego County and Baja California in Mexico, say the message is clear: Mexico has smaller fires that burn out naturally, regularly clearing out combustible underbrush and causing relatively little destruction because the cycle is still natural. California has giant ones because its longtime policies of fire suppression — in which the government has kept fires from their normal cycle — has created huge pockets of fuel that erupt into conflagrations that must be fought.

What were they doing in Baja to remove that underbrush? I though Minnich might a paper available on that very subject so I Googled him. As an aside, in different circumstances I might have used Vivisimo as the search enging. The Earth Sciences link gains a much better return than the faculty link as is usually the case.

On the department page I found he had nine articles with links and and six without. Thinking the title bespoke the focus I was seeking, I picked Minnich, R.A. 2006, "California climate and fire weather". Fire in California's ecosystems (N.G. Sugihara, J.W. VanWagtendonk, K.E Shaffer, Joann Fites-Kaufman and A.E.Thode (eds.). University of California Press.

GRRRRR. That takes me to a .pdf file and those kick this copy and paste'ers ass. It does offer, however, an informative primer on weather with a concentration on the forces at work in forming California's climate. I still needed, however, to find a linkable source...

Which took me to a site definitely worth saving, Conservation Biology. From there, and I do not recall how that happened, I ended up at AGORRA and that produced the link I wish to share, perhaps the motherlode of all techno links... Link.

Alas, good news and bad news. To access those 1,132 journals you have to be registered. The good news is that you can arrange with a school library to dig through all that material. The bad news is that the US does not appear to be a participant in the program. I immediately wonder why. Such a tease!

For the meower fans

Some sites offer outstanding graphics and other provide page after page of mind-numbing, yet accurate and informative, text. This site manages to offer both.

Not Quite A Cat? Wasn’t This Supposed to be About Whales?

Sometimes when it looks like a cat and acts like a cat it’s not; it’s a nimravid! Nimravids are a rather problematic group in the order Carnivora of uncertain descent. Entering the fossil record in the late Eocene (36 million years ago), their exact relationship to other carnivore families is unresolved, but they paralleled cats to an amazing degree. With short faces and fully hooded, retractile claws, they came in body shapes and sizes that covered all of the diversity that true cats would later manifest. Some were as small as house cats, while others were the ecological and functional equivalents of lynx, cheetah and leopard. And all except one lone genus were saber-toothed.

Before we go on, let’s get these curved teeth straight. Saber-teeth evolved from normal, conical canine teeth into two forms. Dirk teeth were the long, curved, finely serrated blades that we normally think of when we think saber-toothed. The famous Smilodon - the saber-toothed “tiger” of LaBrea Tar Pits fame - was a dirk-toothed true felid. There were also scimitar-toothed animals with shorter, more coarsely serrated blades that usually evolved in conjunction with
longer-legged cursorial body types. Most of the dirk-toothed animals were compact, robust stalkers.

//more//

Green thumb

Beautyberry, American
(Callicarpa americana)

Plant type: Shrub



USDA Hardiness Zones: 7a to 10b

Height: 48" to 96"

Spread: 72" to 84"

Exposure: partial shade partial sun to full sun

Bloom Color: Lavender

Bloom Time: Early spring, Late spring, Mid spring

Leaf Color: Green

Growth Rate: average

Moisture: moist

Soil Condition: Acidic, Clay, Loamy, Neutral, Sandy, Slightly alkaline, Well drained

Form: Rounded, Spreading or horizontal, Vase

Landscape Uses:

Border, Cascades, Erosion control, Foundation, Pest tolerant, Massing, Standard

Special Features:

Attracts birds, North American native, Fragrant foliage, Naturalizing, Attracts butterflies, Inconspicuous flowers or blooms