Lilian Jackson Braun, the author of the The Cat Who … mystery novels died on Saturday at age 97.

While the later books were not as involved as her earlier work, and tended to be formulaic, they were a comfortable light read. After a while you wondered by anyone would hang around the main characters, as murder always struck, a bit like the Jessica Fletcher character in the old television series, Murder She Wrote.

I freely admit to owning the entire series, as they became a habit.

The BBC reports that the More residents flee as Arizona Wallow fire grows. They have a map [they are a real news site, so of course they include a map] to locate the area – the eastern border with New Mexico about halfway up.

For more details [and a local area map] you go to the InciWeb Wallow Fire page

Incident Overview

• Date Started: 5/29/2011
• Number of Personnel: Approximately 2,140 including 27 hotshot crews and 29 handcrews
• Location: south and west of Alpine, Arizona
• Cause: Human – under investigation
• Equipment: 8 dozers, 141 engines, 46 watertenders
• Size: 311,481 acres [487 miles² 1261 km²]
• Aircraft: 20 helicopters
• Percent Contained: 0%
• Injuries to Date: none
• Structures: 343 threatened; 1 damaged; 10 lost

Low humidity and high gusty winds are making containment nearly impossible. Fire lines are jumped almost as soon as they are cut, and this is a mountainous region. It will probably enter New Mexico tomorrow, and the smoke is spreading to Iowa. At this point the effort is to try to protect towns in the path, while waiting for the weather to improve later in the week.

Arizona Governor Brewer didn’t issue a state of emergency declaration until yesterday, which means they have probably blown through their Federal grant and will have to spend some of their own money on fire fighting. I expect them to ask for FEMA assistance at any time, because that’s what Republicans do, just ask Governor Goodhair of Texas. They will need to talk to the Tea Party whackoes in Congress, because they don’t believe in “bailouts”.

[For the latest information click on the fire symbol, or go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Fires” for all of the posts related to wildfires on this site.]

From the BBC: Japan ‘unprepared’ for Fukushima nuclear disaster

Japan was unprepared for a nuclear accident on the scale of the one at the Fukushima plant, the government said in a report to be submitted to the IAEA.

The report says poor oversight may also have contributed to the crisis.

The authorities have pledged to make the country’s nuclear regulator (Nisa) independent of the industry ministry, which also promotes nuclear power.

It comes after Nisa doubled its initial estimate of leaked radiation in the first week after the disaster.

The nuclear safety agency now says 770,000 terabecquerels escaped into the atmosphere following the 11 March disaster – more than double its earlier estimate of 370,000 terabecquerels.
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Dr Cole explains Our News and Their News:

Americans live in a late capitalist society where the rich have gotten many times richer and the middle class has gotten poorer, where Wall Street bankers have stolen us blind and blamed us for living above our means, where persistent unemployment is worse than in the Great Depression, where most politicians and some judges have been bought by corporations or special interests, where authorities actively conspire to keep people from voting, where the government spies on citizens assiduously without warrant or probable cause, and where the minds of the sheep are kept off their fleecing by substituting celebrity gossip, sex scandals, and half-disguised bigotry for genuine news.

In the Arab world, masses of 20-year-olds have challenged their corrupt politicians and manipulative billionaires in the streets, demanding transparency, an end to arbitrary secret police, and free and fair elections untainted by influence-peddling and plutocracy. I have Arabic satellite t.v. on in the background most of the day, with its dramatic stories of personal risk and human tragedy and bold challenge to a rotten status quo. And I channel surf over to the American cable news and mostly find fluff or de-contextualized reports or, frankly, propaganda. So here is my life, the day’s news given synoptically, our news and their news.

The American media has no intention of reporting on things that actually matter. They read press releases and refuse to challenge lies. They endorse propaganda, and always side with the powerful against the rest of us.

The Local Puppy Trainer reports that Boat owner of ‘Fuelish Pleasure’ faces thousands in fines after causing firework cancellation

FORT WALTON BEACH — A boater who caused the cancellation of the Billy Bowlegs fireworks show Friday night faces upward of $100,000 in citations and fines.

Coast Guard officials refused to release the boater’s name, citing agency policy. The boat’s captain has a Louisiana driver’s license but docks in Mississippi, according to officials. It is a federally documented boat.
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The 55-foot Marquis yacht named “Fuelish Pleasure” was anchored inside the safety zone of the fireworks display before noon on Friday.

At the time, that area was marked as a safety zone. Announcements were broadcast throughout the day notifying boaters that their vessels had to be removed from the safety zone by early evening.
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Position: 11.8N 100.6W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: West-Northwest [300°] near 3 mph [ 6 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 45 mph [ 75 kph].
Wind Gusts: 60 mph [ 95 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 70 miles [110 km].
Minimum central pressure: 1001 mb ↓.

Currently about 355 miles [570 km] South of Acapulco, Mexico.

This is an Eastern Pacific storm that looks good to become a hurricane on the west coast of Mexico, Some of the tracking has it heading for the Sea of Cortés [Gulf of California] which would be bad news for Baja, Sinaloa, and Sinora, but potentially good news for Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas as a rainmaker.

Here’s the link for NOAA’s latest satellite images.

[For the latest information click on the storm symbol, or go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Hurricanes” for all of the posts related to storms on this site.]