A great read on the "Buy Local" meme. Heavy on the economics... The Ethicurean: Chew the right thing. » Blog Archive » Guest post: Michael Shuman defends the “buy local” premise Michael Shuman, author of the books “The Small-Mart Revolution” and “Going Local,” wrote the best rebuttal by far to…
As I was perusing through the morning emails the daily forecast started me thinking. Back on our first summer trip to the mountains in August of 2003 the folk down in town of Valle Crucis were all talking about the uncommonly hot weather they were having. I want to say…
Today will be the 9th radiation treatment of 35. You could say we are about a quarter of the way through. The strange thing about these treatments is you never know from one day to the next how your voice will react. Saturday everyone said my voice was stronger, Sunday…
Pushing the Envelope on Presidential Power | Cheney | washingtonpost.com Shortly after the first accused terrorists reached the U.S. naval prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, on Jan. 11, 2002, a delegation from CIA headquarters arrived in the Situation Room. The agency presented a delicate problem to White House counsel Alberto…
All last week the weather prognosticators were promising us a beautiful, dry and sunny weekend to make up for the unending rain of last weekend...They blew it. The high pressure dome they were expecting to settle in decided to wander over to Phoenix. I don't think they needed it. Yesterday…
One of the blogs I like that comes from the Appalachian Mountains is: Appalachian Treks Here's another bit of advice I read somewhere that changed the way I take pictures: Find a different perspective. The vast majority of all photos are taken from a position 5'2" to 6'2" off the…
Garrison tells us that... Tonight is Midsummer Night's Eve, also called St. John's Eve. St. John is the patron saint of beekeepers. It's a time when the hives are full of honey. The full moon that occurs this month was called the Mead Moon, because honey was fermented to make…
"This is a little bit of a nonissue," Perino said at a briefing dominated by the issue. Cheney is not subject to the executive order, she said, "because the president gets to decide whether or not he should be treated separately, and he's decided that he should."These guys really need…
The article was about the resignation of another Assistant to Gonzales resigning. But the final paragraph reached out and grabbed me... On the same day that letter was written, however, Mercer instructed a GOP staff member to insert language into a USA Patriot Act reauthorization bill allowing federal prosecutors to…
What it is I dream of...
My short answer...If you have heard they have cancer, don't ask "How are you?" Talk about a loaded question with no real answers at the beginning of treatment. "How you feeling?" would be safer...just. "Hi!" is the best and the safest yet. My two cents thrown out into the blogosphere.…
Colin Fletcher (photograph, John Sexton/Appalachian Long Distance Hikers Association) For most of us who care about ecology and the environment, there was some personal experience that brought us there. For me, it was wilderness hiking, beginning 30-plus years ago in the Grand Canyon and continuing across the American West. Two…
I had a funny thought as I lay on the...hmmm, I really don't know what to call it...the platform(?) while x-rays were taken of my throat before my radiation treatments started yesterday. I was recalling my elementary school days during the Cuban Missile Crisis when they would line us up…
So far so good. Other than a raspy voice not much to report after the first weeks radiation treatment. No news is good news I guess. The promised cooling effect of afternoon thunderstorms did not happen yesterday. So it was quite warm as I finished the yard in the late…
Verlyn Klinkenborg has a new piece out. His observations on humanity and our relationship to the natural world do not put humanity in the best of lights...Rightfully so in my humble opinion. Millions of Missing Birds, Vanishing in Plain Sight - New York Times Last week, the Audubon Society released…
With the sentencing of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Fitzgerald has apparently finished his work, which was, not to put too fine a point on it, to make a mountain out of a molehill. At the urging of the liberal press (especially the New York Times), he was appointed to look…
There was a break in the afternoon gully washers yesterday. I took that opportunity to play a bit of catchup on the yard work. I managed to mow about 2/3 of the yard...if I'm lucky I may get the rest mowed this afternoon. At 6am this morning we are already…
The reason Bush and buddies are so clueless is that they are eaten up with corporate arrogance and avarice. They possess a stunning sense of entitlement, leading them to treat our government as their private plaything. What they need is to have a good kindergarten teacher assigned to refresh each…
The weather the past two days was...to be nice...wet. Occasional heavy thunderstorms interspersed with steady rain. Short periods of local street flooding. One of the changes I have seen in my half century in SE Texas (particularly the flat coastal plain) is the change in road building styles and flood…
I was sitting here checking out some WP plugins when I noticed the time. Poured my first cup of the morning muse and turned on "Sunday Morning". I was late for the preamble but caught most of the first story. Even Sunday Morning is on the sugar story and what…
The Ethicurean Blog always has some intriguing posts about the food we eat and how it is raised or shows up at our table. Maybe I've been reading them too much, 'cause this whole dependence on corn is beginning to remind me of something else. Are we planning to trade…
To judge by his latest columns my answer would have to be yes. It looks like I'm not the only one who thins so either. Marbo is Guest Posting over at The Carpetbagger Report this weekend and has a systematic rebuttal to George Will's latest column telling us how good…
American Agriculture - Do you trust a CEO to decide what you eat? It may just be my inherent distrust of corporations or the complete lack of values most corporations have shown in the course of this country's history, but, I really do not trust my food quality and safety…
From My PhotoBlog at Gary-Boyd.com I just learned an interesting fact. If you ever had a Blogger Blog that you posted photo's to, you seem to also have a Picas Web Album for that blog. You can go to your Web Album and create a slideshow like the one above…
Charles Krauthammer has a long piece on the Immigration Bill and building fences. This whole fence argument comes with a timing that I find full of synchronicity. What with all of the air play Ronald Reagan's Berlin speech has gotten on the anniversary of the dismantling of the Berlin Wall.…
Currently: 72° Dewpoint: 68° Wind: Calm Humidity: 85% Pressure: 29.85 in Hg Average: High 91° Low 72° Record: High 100° (1936) Low 58° (1933) Today's Sunrise: 6:20AM Today's Sunset: 8:24PM (14:04 hours of sunlight) The afternoon thunder is becoming a summertime pattern, with street flooding and power outages becoming a…
Currently: 73° Dewpoint: 72° Wind: Calm Humidity: 97% Pressure: 29.87 in Hg Average: High 91° Low 72° Record: High 102° (1998) Low 62° (1995) Today's Sunrise: 6:20AM Today's Sunset: 8:23PM (14:03 hours of sunlight) I am still working on a repeatable format for this blog, so bear with me. If…
Gaian Tarot Oracle: an Online Reading I was reading Cate's post Four of Earth which led me to Joanna's Gaian Tarot While looking at her art I saw the link to the Oracle...Go try asking a question.
5:52am Currently: 75° Dewpoint: 73° Wind: Calm Humidity: 94% Pressure: 29.92 in Hg Average: High 90° Low 72° Record: High 100° (2006) Low 61° (1955) Today's Sunrise: 6:20AM Today's Sunset: 8:23PM (14:03 hours of sunlight) Yesterday on the drive to work the weather prognosticator was saying something about a heat…
Spotted this in my feed reader and thought I'd pass it along for all of you southerners out there slapping yourselves silly. OakStump Farms Mosquito Trap Eliminates populations of skeeters When I saw this cheap trap at Logan's Trading Post three years ago, I figured what the heck, but we've…
