Posts from — April 2014

Lightning to the right of me, lightning to the left of me, lightning in front and behind me rumbled and thundered – all night long.

Mobile and Pensacola got a lot more rain [about two feet] than we did, but we will close out April with 7 times our normal rainfall. All of the local rivers and streams are flooding. We are already seeing the roadsides covered in piles of soggy carpet and pads.

Hipparchia noticed that the National Weather Service thought it was notable.

We had near constant lightning and thunder all night long with a number of strikes near my house. Sleep was nearly impossible.

The Panhandle has been declared a disaster area by the state, which will hopefully lead to a Federal declaration because the state doesn’t adequately fund the disaster fund any more, and the clean up and repairs are going to be expensive.

It’s Hexennacht and there is a new moon , but there is no Blocksberg available for dancing down here and it is so soggy that bonfires are out of the question.

Of course the Church grabbed this holiday too and called it Walpurgisnacht in honor of one of their Anglo-Saxon saints, rather than good German witches [Hexen]. The Celts celebrate Beltaine at this time of the year. It is considered the beginning of summer in much of Europe.

Archæoastronomy

But I don’t get a lot of keyboard time anymore. Things are changing and I’m spending more time dealing with the changes. One of the changes is spending long stretches in a darkened environment where I can’t really type, although I can read.

I expect some relief to show up shortly, but I’m not sure how useful they can really be without a lot of training. This is a marathon, not a sprint, so you have to pace yourself or burn out.

If you leave a comment I will get to it, but it won’t be quickly.

Sun Dabbling

Sigh ….

[Editor:
Froggy isn’t quite ready for sun bathing, so she’s trying out a little behind her ears.]

Friday Ark

It is ANZAC Day in Australia and New Zealand, which is similar to the American Veterans Day, in that it began as a remembrance of World War I, and has become more generalized over the years.

“Anzac Day commemorates the involvement of Australian and New Zealand troops in a World War I campaign on the Gallipoli peninsula in Turkey.”

The Gallipoli Campaign began as a Winston Churchill [then First Lord of the Admiralty] plan that spun out of control and got a lot of people killed on both sides with nothing much changing, but then, that was quite common in World War I.

Peter Weir made a movie, Gallipoli, which, if nothing else, proves that Sergeant Alvin York, and T.E. Lawrence weren’t the only people who fought in World War I.

Saint George is the patron saint of England, Georgia [the country], Bulgaria, Portugal, Catalonia, and the city of Moscow. Orthodox countries tend to celebrate George on November 23^rd.

PETA condemns George for his senseless slaughter of dragons. The YWCA condemns the condemnation and wants to know when PETA is going to volunteer to be DragonChow™

It is UNESCO’s International Day of the Book.

It is also the birth and death day of Billy the Bard, who was a great writer in desperate need of a spelling checker.

Master Shakespeare gave all of the best lines to villains supplying low humor to those who have read the Folio, e.g. Arlen Specter quoting Iago, reputedly in support of Clarence Thomas.

She’s the only planet we have, if we blow it, we can’t pack up and move.

Wikipedia as an Earth Day entry, with links to other sites.

I guess they are going to charge the captain of the South Korean ferry with something as it becomes apparent that he and the crew made good their escapes while the passengers were trapped, and only one lifeboat was launched – with the crew in it.

There is apparently a question about the possibility of too many passengers and too much cargo on the vessel, which may have contributed to the capsizing.

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Zero is apparently attempting to focus on Asia again, so there will probably be another disaster somewhere. That seems to be the pattern – every time he tries to work a deal in Asia something terrible happens.

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At least the Keystone XL pipeline decision has been stalled again, probably until after the elections in November. Congress doesn’t want to deal with the fall-out, no matter which way the decision goes.

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I’m still buried with my current primary job, but there looks like an easing in the near future. It is a one day at a time operation.

Back in March in response to the Crimean crisis, Hillary Clinton noted that Putin’s tactics were similar to those of Hitler in the 1930s. In the Guardian article a Stanford ‘Russian expert’ said that the comparison was a stretch because Russia was not moving to take more land from Ukraine.

Well they took the Crimea, and now the Donets Basin is up for grabs.

With that in mind, we might want to compare the Sloviansk shooting with the Gleiwitz incident.

This is what happens when you have small children – you dye your kitchen.

Yes, the festival of Easter, goddess of the Spring, is celebrated this time of year with the traditional symbols of fertility, the egg and the rabbit, by the people who settled around the Baltic Sea – the Teutons, Slavs, Finns, Prussians, Letts, et al. It is a festival of plenty after the hardships of winter, with the promise of new growth.

Of course, later groups took the celebration and turned it to other purposes, but I doubt Easter minds.

Almost Still Life

The outdoors needs carpet…

[Editor: CC sitting on the doorstep because the ground is still wet.]

Friday Ark

Friday Cat Blogging and other activities have been delayed by rain.

If I get a chance I will be responding to comments, but this has been a very ‘interesting day’ in Real Life, so my access isn’t assured.

It has been fours years since the Deepwater Horizon had its lethal blowout in the Gulf of Mexico that led to three months of crude oil gushing into the water.

CBS reports on Dr. Joye’s visit to the site of the blowout to check on the condition of the Gulf. Dr. Joye has proven to be the only credible source for information on the condition of the Gulf.

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While Australians may quietly resign when they get caught, one Canadian mayor can’t take the hint: Rob Ford launches re-election bid. The mayor of Toronto apparently doesn’t think his involvement with illegal drugs or his alcoholism are any reason not to be mayor of a large city. Who knows, the voters might agree with him.

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Now we’ll see if I’m any good as a political pundit because Chelsea Clinton has announced that she is pregnant. I’m on record as saying that I couldn’t visualize Hillary Clinton running for President if this happened, so now we’ll find out.

About the best thing I’ve seen is that a Federal judge has told North Dakota that its new Abortion law is unconstitutional. I fully expect the state to throw away tax dollars to appeal the ruling.

It is probable that hundreds have died in a ferry disaster is Korea.

There have been knife attacks at schools in the US and Canada.

People are claiming that new satellite photos off of the west coast of Australia are showing aircraft debris, despite the fact that none of this debris has been recovered. Given the amount of time that has elapsed since the crash, the location of this debris will do nothing but confirm that the aircraft crashed in the ocean.

The premier of New South Wales in Australia apparently forgot he received a $3000 bottle of wine – which would have been more believable if he hadn’t sent the donor a thank you note. Mr. O’Farrell did have the common sense to resign.