Back to Washington State!

Well, this fall we traveled back to Washington.  Washington the state, that is.  Joined up with family members in the area and had a wonderful time.  It was late September, the weather was wonderfully cool, or rather not too warm and not too cold.  Just the way Goldie Locks would have liked it!   One our first full day we took a short drive down to catch one of the beaches during low tide.  We enjoyed a great time walking around looking into the tide pools to spot a great assortment of sea amenites, star fish, barnacles, crabs, clams and more.

One thing that did catch my eye this day, was the image below, in which there was this girl who had waded far out into the shallows off the shore line.  For some reason, the Title that comes to mind is:

“Walking before the waves”.

 

I will post a sideshow of the beach photo’s I took in a couple more days.  I know that it’s coming up upon the Christmas season, but every now and then, we just need to focus on something perhaps a little less commercialized, which does not make your think about ” I need to go buy something “.

What does 9/11 mean to me?

It is now over a decade past the event now known as 9/11.  Like many, I was at my job that morning, only to hear about the event unfolding from others.  But once told, like millions of others, I spent periods of that morning viewing the TV newscasts at every chance I got.  As it turns out, I was watching one of the live broadcasts when the second plane hit the other Trade Center Tower.  It was a morning of confusion, disbelief, fear, and anger, for the millions of others far removed from the sites.  This feeling was only intensified as news spread about the Pentagon and then later what would become known as Flight 93.

Today, looking back, I believe we did see acts of heroism and selfless disregard for ones own safety, in efforts to save the lives of others.  Though most of the stories I believe are true, I do feel there have been some creative liberties taken with some of the stories, to build them up in an effort to make them more news worthy.   But regardless, some of the best in people came out on that day, and makes it memorable in it’s own right, for those efforts.

What concerns me though is how the politicians use events like these to help shape public opinion.  Leaders including religious leaders around the world, have the ability to shape people’s desires and actions through speeches and talks that work on the emotional state of mind of the listener.  These can be the catalyst for both great and horrible acts.  All one needs to do is look back through history and see that some of the greatest impacts to cultures have been the ability of a single person, to drive a complete society into action.

Jesus Christ, Muhammad, Buddha, Confucius, Aristotle, Euclid, Moses are a few of the best known names of individuals who through a single persons words and actions hit the emotional core of those around them while alive and millions upon millions of lives after they were gone.  Each of these individuals spoke of great ideals to improve how people should live together.  Each of these individuals are known for attempting to help people live better lives in cooperation with all others.  It is said when their words are twisted into emotional weapons used to inflect pain and suffering on others and used to justify those very actions.

For those who think this is not the case, you only need to look into names such as Gingas Kon, Adolf Hitler, Ivan Vasilyevich,  Mao Tse-tung, Genghis Khan, to name a few.  Here too are individuals who through their words and actions caused millions of lives to be horribly extinguished.  They did not accomplish this with their own hands, but through their ability to control the emotional thoughts of others to inspire them to take suggested actions in what they had been convinced were justified and for the better good of ’their’ society.  For those who think religious leaders have not done the same look into history of the Roman Catholic Inquisition as one example.  A more recent religious event being that of 9/11, inspired by those who justified the actions as being justified under Muslim teachings, those no one has been able to point out where those teaching are?

So, we all must use the intellect each of us have been given to weed through the words of those who would lead, to ensure the outcomes never end up generating what will be seen in history as evil.

The right to defend does not automatically equate, to the right to attack.  The good of the many does not justify the deaths of others because they live in a given society.  But, we do always retain the right to prevent others from inflicting harm.  It in determining what is the definition of harm that we sometimes get into trouble.

 

Borders Books are no more.

Boy, now I not only do I wonder about not having read every book, cover to cover, I wonder if I have not been buying enough books?
Seems like the new trend is the electronic books. This has been a real problem for book stores, as evidenced by the closing of the Borders Book Stores. Though I have heard that poor management was also at fault, people buying fewer books had to hurt them greatly.
It would be interesting to know what the volume of total books sold is. That being combination of print and electronic together. After all, is it a case of people reading less, or a shift to electronic media being the reason.
For myself, I still like to have a solid book in my hands. One that shows the whole page in a font size I can read all at once, verses scrolling down through the page. I also like the fact that I never need to charge or change the batteries in my book. During the daytime it lights up all by itself, just by opening the page to sunlight. I guess you might say a paper book is the best type of solar-powered reading device. Never a worry about pixels going out, a power supply failing, pages freezing requiring a reboot of the paper software, as there is none. Plus, in 100 years what do you think will still be readable on library book shelf somewhere?

Do you feel obligated to finish all books you start reading?

NO, I do not.  A good book is always worth my time and effort.  A badly written book is not worth the limited time I have in any given day.  But, always remember, a good book is in the eyes of the beholder.  Just because one person says a book is bad, does not make it bad.  Now if 1,000 say it’s bad on 1 person says it’s great.  Well, it’s great to that one person.  Who am I to tell other people if a book is good or bad.  I can only say that it was worth the time spent reading it, as I finished it.

The heat just keeps coming!

After what seemed like a cooler than normal spring, summer has kicked into high gear in Nebraska. We are in a streak of 100 or near 100 degree days. The humidity though not equal to the temperature, does not feel all that far behind. Stepping out of an air conditioned building, or car, feels like opening the door of an oven and flooding your face with hot steamy air that fogs your glasses, takes your breath away, and just makes you want to close the door back up quickly.

So what is the reason for the extreme heat. Is is global warming? I check the records, and we are not currently setting new ones. Temperatures have been more extreme in times past. So, is this related to global warming, or is it related to higher output from the sun? Or, is it a bit of both. There seems to be some contention and controversy over what is the cause of warmer temperatures. There are indicators such as higher levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere that can not really be contested, as it is scientific fact. According to geological records, this is not the first time in history that CO2 has been as high as it is today. In fact, it has been even higher if the science is correct.

I recall times back in the 60′s (I know), when the winters in Wisconsin and Minnesota were much colder than we average today. I also remember days when the temperatures climbed up into the upper 90′s and even hit the 100 mark, which is not much different from todays trends. So do I think that global warming is fact or fiction? I must say yes, it is. Or then again, what are all the possible causes? I am not exactly sure, but I do think that continuing to pump millions of tons of CO2 into the atmosphere is not a good idea regardless. Are all the efforts being made to reduce CO2 worth while? I would have to say “Yes”. Just as pouring tons of chemicals into the water-ways has been proven to not be a good idea. The really hard part is going to be figuring out how to reduce, while helping everyone to keep an acceptable standard of living.

The really ironic thing is that at time when winters are supposed to be warmer, we just had a winter with some of the greatest snow falls seen in decades in the north. Then we had a spring that was cooler than normal with more rain than normal. In fact we had a lot more rain than normal. So what do you get when you mix extra deep snow with lots of rain. You get a year where you have some the greatest flooding seen in over sixty years! If it was not for the all the heat we have been having, I would just say “rain rain go away, come again another day”. But, given the current circumstances, I would settle for some cooler air.

What does 1 Million Gallons of water look like. Every-Second!

ONE MILLION GALLONS EVERY SECOND

This is what One Million Gallons of water flowing by you, each and every second looks like.  This is the Gavins Point Dam, which is the last stop of the Mighty Missouri River, on it’s way to Omaha and Council Bluffs.  From the borders of South Dakota and Nebraksa, down to the flooded shared valley between Nebraska and Iowa, the water just keeps coming.  We hear about a town being flooded for days.  This summer the Missouri River is flooding NE/IA for MONTHS.