Something I keep pushing in the healthcare reform debate...Agriculture is key to real reform. Recently a team of designers from M.I.T. and Columbia was asked by the foundation of the insurer UnitedHealthcare to develop an innovative systems approach to tackling childhood obesity in America. Their conclusion surprised the designers as…
This is not Sword of Truth I was wandering around on Netflix the other day and discovered this series. It was available to view online. Since I was a fan of the original Terry Goodkind books it seemed like a good match for a rainy afternoon of grandfather duty... Boy,…
Here it is, the first week of September is almost done. The weather has teased us on a number of occasions in the past few weeks...But we are still dry and the temperature passes 90° on an almost daily basis. Even the dogs are still spending most of the day…
I keep reading how this reform is dead. We have Texas Republicans in Congress claiming if the Dems pass a plan they will be back in power and repeal it. Yet, the only alternative they seem to have to offer is Health Savings Plans...Call me stupid, but exactly where do…
Nicholas Kristof, writing in his column, had what I think is probably the best definition I have ever seen of the state of our agriculture... I think I figured out the central problem with modern industrial agriculture. It’s not just that it produces unhealthy food, mishandles waste and overuses antibiotics…
This morning feels different outside. For the first time in a long while the outside temperature almost matches the inside temperature. Walking out on the back stoop, for the first time since spring, you are not slapped in the face with the heat. While the coffee brewed, I reintroduced myself…
A second blogger being sued by the mother of the late Anna Nicole Smith is set to spend a weekend behind bars for failing to do what a local judge asked. Teresa Stephens, accused in a civil lawsuit of defaming Smith's mother, was arrested Thursday in the Fort Worth area…
Not many people would knowingly pay more than $35 for a cup of coffee. But far too many people are getting saddled — with no warning — with outsized bills for minor purchases, under a euphemistically labeled “overdraft protection program” that most major banks have adopted over the last 10…
After months of days on end with no rain hitting the ground at our home here south of Houston I was beginning to despair. But the last week has finally seen a small amount of precipitation. We went a couple of weeks with a weekly shower before this week when…
...the public — struggling with the worst economic downturn since the 1930s — is looking on with great anxiety and confusion. If the drug companies and the insurance industry are smiling, it can only mean that the public interest is being left behind. Bob Herbert said it today, I've been…
A good book is a good book whatever the weather or temperature. But summer brings with it the illusion of more free time, and just about now — when the demise of August makes free time seem even more illusory — I can’t help looking around for the book I…
Cheney's disappointment with the former president surfaced recently in one of the informal conversations he is holding to discuss the book with authors, diplomats, policy experts and past colleagues. If there is anything that could improve the historical reputation of George W. Bush, this could be it...Dick Cheney is voicing…
I realized yesterday about noon that it was exactly six months since my birthday. Since this was an auspicious anniversary being as how it marked fifty-five point five years on the planet, I decided to honor the day with half a birthday road trip... I learned something from this short…
I have been incredibly blessed to be able to combine this love of calloused hands with dramatic and verbal skills. And that is why I promote direct marketing. Too often parents whose children express an interest in farming squelch it because they envision dirt, dust, poverty, and hermit living. But…
I was sitting here contemplating the books piled on my reading shelf the other day and noticed an remarkable thing has happened...What once was predominantly fiction has become almost entirely not. Now bear in mind, my reading shelf is actually the two shelves on the bakers rack above the microwave…
It is mid day here in southeast Texas. The temperature is pushing 90°. The clouds outside my kitchen window are growing black and rumbling with a bit of thunder. In other words, we are back on the "normal" side of a normal Houston~Galveston summer. That doesn't mean it is in…
For many years, if anyone asked what I wanted to do when I grew up, I'd say I wanted to "build websites". As I kept reinventing the job I did for the company I spent my adult life with, my coworkers would kid me on occasion. I would tell them…
In the afternoon of summer, sounds come through the window: a tractor muttering to itself as it pivots at the corner of the hay field, stalled for a moment as the green row feeds into the baler. On some days I listen to Garrison on the radio, some days he…
LONDON — In America, the health care debate is about to come to a boil. President Barack Obama has put pressure on both houses of Congress to pass versions of his flagship domestic legislative program prior to their August recess. Good luck. Opponents are filling the airwaves with the usual…
There is a reason I plan to relocate to the Appalachian Mountains in the next year or so...And the following is a big part of it... Second warmest June on record The globe recorded its second warmest June on record, 0.02°C short of the record set in 2005, according to…
Today was mowing day around this place...Last time I mowed I picked up a bunch of nails in the tireson the Deere so the first order of business was pulling out the nails and plugging the holes. I have no idea where I managed to pick up the tire holers,…
It was time for a bug fix upgrade yesterday. It wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have so many places to run the "automatic upgrade". And every upgrade of WP brings with it a number of rolling plugin upgrade. It seems that each upgrade causes an unforeseen problem with…
I haven't vanished from the face of the earth...I haven't taken ill from the heat and lack of rain...I haven't been shipped off for failing to amuse my wife (though I'm sure see is thinking about it)...What I am doing is exploring the idiosyncrasies of a new theme for WordPress…
The grill was running for most of two days...Smoked meats for a 4th of July family feast. Brisket (this is Texas afterall), salmon, and sausage made up the choices...Pinto beans, slaw and potatoe salad for sides. Assorted soft drinks and wine for refreshments. The brisket went on to smoke Friday…
After watching rain showers bypass us on Tuesday, we managed to be in the way of a passing cloud yesterday. With an hour of steady rain, the ground soaked up every drop as fast as it fell. Sherry and I sat on the front porch and watched the amazing sight...Water...Falling…
I spent almost all day Tuesday installing a new database and reinstalling WordPress and importing the old posts over at North Carolina Mountain Dreams. I am still working at putting all of the pieces back together over there...You know, side bars and widgets and all of that bloggy stuff. Next…
@BlueRidgeblog How about a hot air balloon or a helicopter...Or you could attach a camera to a radio controlled plain. in reply to BlueRidgeblog # Powered by Twitter Tools.
New photoblog post: Mustang Grapes on Mustang Bayou http://bit.ly/mhIwG # Powered by Twitter Tools.
If only there was a court to try the cases in... So the House passed the Waxman-Markey climate-change bill. In political terms, it was a remarkable achievement. But 212 representatives voted no... And as I watched the deniers make their arguments, I couldn’t help thinking that I was watching a…
New NC Mtn Dream blog post: Appalachian Summer Festival Video http://bit.ly/SkY1M # Powered by Twitter Tools.
