Category: Uncategorized (Page 4 of 8)

Spent the majority of the weekend working on Fiery Studios work instead of pulling overtime at the day job. Hooray!

Had a workshop in Plymouth; it went very well. I sure like that library. They’re such nice folks — here’s hoping they have us back again.

Finished most everything in the 40-page preview; beta-readers, check your inboxes tomorrow.

Everybody else: there’s a big stie overhaul a-comin’. I built the DHTML script and the background last night, and tonight I start the formidable task of shoehorning all the old content into the new design. Then I have the even more formidable task of re-updating the site with current, pertinent information. Buh. If all goes well, sometime next week the V website should have an entirely new look, feel, and navigation system. Yay!

The path report is back: her lymph nodes are clear. They caught it early; she’s gonna be fine.

Praise God, and thanks to all of you who held us in the Light.

Much love to you all.

Miss you

You’ll put it on a polished stone

and lay it on his grave

Miss you

And make his work clothes

into placemats as a reminder

Miss you — Miss you

But not enough to respect his wishes,

not enough to respect his life’s work.

So I was listening to NPR’s Science Friday last week, and they had NY Times columnist Tom Friedman on, talking about his new book The Earth is Flat, which is all about globalization and greening our transportation industry. (you can hear it on MP3 download here, for the time being — dunno how long the link will last — and it’s mighty good listening, about 45 minutes. Highly recommended.)

And then I read this Op-Ed piece (which originally ran in the NYT). He touched briefly on this topic on Science Friday, but this is an expansion of the idea.

I swear to God, it was wonderful hearing this guy. It was so wonderful to hear an expert — and a prominent NYT columnist, at that — say all the stuff I’ve been shouting about for the last year on this blog, and say it in a nonpartisan way. He was basically like, “look, this is not a partisan issue and we don’t have three years to spare. We need another “Moon Shot”-style push for technology now, right this minute, or the Indians and the Chinese are going to bury us so fast it’ll make our heads spin, and we won’t be able to react because they’ll have not only our purse strings, but all the brainpower.”

Go man go. Now if only people will listen to us hollering in the wilderness.

Now the railroad came generations ago

And the town grew up as the crops did grow

The crops grew well and the town did too

They say it’s dyin now and there ain’t a thing we can do

I don’t have to read the news

Or hear it on the radio

I see it in the faces of everyone I know

The cost goes up

What we made comes down

What’s gonna happen to our little town

The summer is full of thunder

The kids run and play

Momma got a new wrinkle

Poppa ain’t got much to say

Rust grows along the railroad track

The young folks leave

They don’t come back

And I don’t have to read the news

Or hear it on the radio

I see it in the faces of everyone I know

The boards go up

The signs come down

What’s gonna happen to our little town

Tom lost his farm

And we lost Tom

He left in the night

I don’t know where he’s gone

What he’d lost

He just couldn’t face

What we’re losin’ can’t be replaced

I don’t have to read the news

Or hear it on the radio

I see it in the faces of everyone I know

The reason we’re here

Is the farms around

So what’s gonna happen to our little town

We’ve seen hard times

Many times before

Maybe this whole thing is just one more

It never was perfect

Maybe no one’s to blame

To see it die like this

It’s a god damned shame

And I don’t have to read the news

Or hear it on the radio

I see it in the faces of everyone I know

The sun comes up

The sun goes down

But what’s gonna happen to our little town

— Greg Brown

I just watered the garden with fish emulsion, and now all the flies in the neighborhood are at my house, circling the plants, saying “Hey, baby — what’s that bewitching scent you’re wearing?”

A Landfill near Columbus is going to be used as a Methane-harvesting plant. On its way out, the methane will turn a microturbine, which will help heat and power the plant. Then it’ll be turned into Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) which can be used to power CNG cars in the city’s fleet. Later they hope to turn the methane into Methanol for use in Biodiesel production, and for hydrogen extraction.

Details here.

After six months of impatient waiting, I am now running my car on B99 — 1% petrol and 99% soy. Contrary to popular rumor, my tailpipe does not smell like french fries. It smells like slightly sour cooking oil.

However, I will say this: The car’s pickup seems extra-smooth and fast, and there’s no detectable, awful, cloudy diesel stank like there is with B20 or regular diesel, and that’s a hell of an improvement. The car smells *good* as opposed to like an eighteen-wheeler. And the jerrycans of B99 don’t smell *at all*, which is pleasant compared to B20, which still stinks thoroughly of petro-diesel.

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0215-21.htm

Excerpt:

We have become a culture of Pharisees. Instead of practicing an authentic spirituality of compassion, nonviolence, love and peace, we as a collective people have become self-righteous, arrogant, powerful, murderous hypocrites who dominate and kill others in the name of God. The Pharisees supported the brutal Roman rulers and soldiers, and lived off the comforts of the empire by running an elaborate banking system which charged an exorbitant fee for ordinary people just to worship God in the Temple. Since they taught that God was present only in the Temple, they were able to control the entire population. If anyone opposed their power or violated their law, the Pharisees could kill them on the spot, even in the holy sanctuary.

Most North American Christians are now becoming more and more like these hypocritical Pharisees. We side with the rulers, the bankers, and the corporate millionaires and billionaires. We run the Pentagon, bless the bombing raids, support executions, make nuclear weapons and seek global domination for America as if that was what the nonviolent Jesus wants. And we dismiss anyone who disagrees with us.

We have become a mean, vicious people, what the bible calls “stiff-necked people.” And we do it all with the mistaken belief that we have the blessing of God.

Go. Read. S’good.

So last Sunday we were over at Paul’s sister’s house for February Sizer Birthday day; Paul’s dad, his sister Karen, and his Brother-in-law Brian were all celebrating. Karen and Brian now have three daughters under the age of eight, and they decided to call it quits on having any more kids. Brian took the appropriate action, and now he’s healed up enough that he can laugh about the situation:

Brian: Yeah, everything’s different since Jimmy went wireless.

Karen: He still has roaming penalties, though.

Brian: Technically, it’s a handheld wireless.

Nancy: How many minutes do you have in your package, Brian?

Karen: Actually, the plan that I signed up for has unlimited nights and weekends.

Fortunately, no one asked if it could take photos.