Silent Sunday

Water, Cats and Apple TV

There is a reason I am not allowed to touch a hose at home. I have this thing when I start watering - pretty much everything in sight, including myself, is thoroughly watered. I bring this up because I'm housesitting this weekend and one of my duties is to water the plants. They should have checked with Jill about this. As I was outside diligently watering the sidewalk, the house, etc., a van went past about 6x. I'm pretty sure it was the water police. If it wasn't I just want to say that I'm housesitting in Tucson, AZ. (That is to throw them off the scent, see what a good spy I'd have made.)

So on to the next subject from my title: Cats. The people I am housesitting for have 3 cats. Since I'm trying to remain incognito I won't tell you their names. I will tell you a funny story about one of them. She (if you know them, now you know who it is) wanted to go outside this morning so I dutifully opened the back door for her. I stood there holding the door open and she just sat and looked up at me and meowed. Then she looked toward the front door. The way this house is the front & back doors are about - I don't know - maybe 8 feet apart. After a minute it dawned on me that she wanted out the front door. I opened the front door, she looked up at me as if to say thank you and trotted on out. I thought this was incredibly cute. Anyway now I have both doors open so all the cats can go in and out any they want.

And last but not least. They have Apple TV here and I thought I could plug my ipod into it and somehow listen to it through the TV. Apparently not. Well perhaps you can but I don't know how. This isn't really surprising since last time I stayed I couldn't even find the DVD player. Anyway I pushed buttons but nothing ever happened. I'm pretty sure I messed up the remote - don't tell them - I don't think they read this blog so I should be safe!

So those are my adventures in housesitting. Oh that would have made a nice title also. I've watered, blogged and had lunch. I don't think there is anything else I can do to put off working and studying math!

The lonely blog mistress (notice how I didn't put my name due to that watering & remote issue)

I'm Cranky, Humor Me

It's been a bit hot today and it is making me cranky. For the last 2 hours I've been sitting on my deck wandering around the Internet. That hasn't even cheered me up much. It has been kind of fun though. I found a way to plug the laptop in and use it on the deck (well actually I didn't do it, John did). Anyway it is kind of nice to sit out here except that bugs keep attacking me. It is somewhat cooler but still pretty warm.

Ok, back to the cranky part. When I was significantly younger I used to ride the bus to San Francisco to work. I had this theory that I was invisible. Apparently I wasn't because no one ever sat on me even when the bus was full & people were standing in the aisle. There is a point to this story, aside from reaffirming your belief that I need professional help. I think that this blog is invisible. No one is reading or commenting. Where is everyone or is it me? Come on folks, post something!!!!! No seriously I mean it. Post something!

We have had only one other poster in the last few months and while he is doing a remarkable (although generally late) job, I would like to see more participation. I am actually a great believer in participation and community and all that crap. Not for myself, mind you but I truly do believe it is important. It is how things get done, how people communicate and learn about each other and themselves.

Our (notice how I said our) other poster tells me that I shouldn't get upset if no one reads or comments because I'm doing this for myself. Well yes and no. It is for myself in the sense that I am part of this family but the idea is to share what is going on in people's lives. I know some of you are reading (I know many, many things) but you aren't commenting or posting! Truly I know you all believe I have nothing better to do than listen to myself and you're probably right. I'm actually quite enamoured with my writing. But I have other blogs where I can indulge myself - this one is about community, participation, etc., etc.

So the point of this little rant? One, to put up a post for today. Two, just to say I'm cranky, participate or else! Trust me, I'm not a nice person when I get cranky. You know that is a weird word. Say it three times. Weird huh?

Robin, the lonely (and cranky) blog mistress

Monday's Post?

Okay, I'm a bit late. But you see, I spent all of last night watching the Democratic Convention. Did you see it? Did you? Whether you are a supporter of Barack Obama or not, whether you consider yourself a liberal or not, whether you care about politics or not, the Democratic Convention of 2008 is a seminal event that has changed the world in which you live forever. As you know, unless you have been living in a cave for the past two years, for the first time in the history of our nation, a black man will be the nominee of one of the two major parties and will be running for president. More than that, and more important than that, is that Barack Obama is a candidate that likes of which we have not seen since Bobbie and John. He is a candidate who inspires hope for our future and for our children. He is a candidate who understands that we can no longer maintain a "business as usual" attitude about this country. He is a candidate who knows that our country is at a tipping point and plans to do something to make sure it tips the right way. 

If you did not see the convention, I urge you to view some of the speeches (particularly the speeches of Michelle Obama,  Caroline Kennedy-Schlossberg and Sen. Ted Kennedy) online. You can find them at CNN and probably at YouTube as well. Okay, that's all from me for now. 

Silent Sunday

Happy Birthday to Us

Yesterday was our birthday! We are 4 years old now. In case you don't know who we are let me introduce myself. I'm Pippin Texeira, a very handsome 4-year-old cat and my sister is Mellifera Texeira who is also 4-years-old and thinks she is beautiful. (I'm the one who is mostly black, Mellifera is mostly white.) I think she's annoying. She didn't want to write this post so I said I'd do it - I didn't say that I would say nice things about her though!



We had a birthday party last night and got a cool present, special turkey that our Mom cooked for us and cake. I loved the turkey! but the cake I didn't care for. I sniffed at it but it smelled funny. Our present was a scratchy thing that we can lay on and play with. It has a feather underneath it that I'm trying to pull off. It was a pretty good day and our party was nice although a little weird. You have to understand that cats aren't much into parties but our Mom really likes to do stuff like that so we indulge her. She is kind of strange but still a pretty nice Mom and she really loves us so we let her be weird sometimes.

Garden Stuff

I'm sure you all read Jill's blog regularly, but in case you missed the recent post I thought I'd remind you to take a look. She posted some before/after pictures of our backyard. They sort of give you an idea of how many plants she has. To really appreciate it you have to see it in person though.

Olympic Energy

So I've been watching the Olympics pretty much nonstop for the past 10 days. It's been pretty exciting what with all the world records and beach volleyball and bad judging in the gymnastics. But more importantly, it got me thinking about energy, all that energy the athletes are consuming and expending. Think of how wasteful it is. Not to mention all that fuel to fly them to Beijing. The world has gone crazy. Which brings me to the subject of today's post, the "energy crisis."

Let's start with a very basic question that has a very simple answer. Is there an energy crisis? Obviously the answer is, "no." We have plenty of energy in lots of different forms. We have so much energy, in fact, that we celebrate that excess once every four years by having thousands of athletes come from all over the world to expend it in front of hundreds of millions of pairs of eyes glued to television sets around the world.

But seriously, there is not an energy crisis, we have plenty. For instance, we have enough solar energy hitting our planet to last us for millions of years to come (really, until the sun explodes, after which I don't think we'll care). There's tons and tons of wind energy every day that goes untapped and unused. There is an abundance of fuel for both nuclear fission and nuclear fusion energy (we're just not sure how to use one of those yet). 

Sure we seem to have a problem with coal and oil (it's expensive, people die getting it out of the ground, people die trying to keep it from other people, it's fouling up our atmosphere, etc.). The solution, obviously, is to drill into the bottom of the ocean and look for more of this lovely stuff, right? Our country and much of the rest of the world is so dependent on oil and all those other technologies are decades away that our only solution is to open up more fields for drilling. Right?

Here's the thing. No. That's exactly wrong. What needs to happen is that this country needs to give the imagined "energy crisis" the same high priority that we have given to other urgent needs in the past (like the need to blow entire cities off the face of the earth). So here's the plan.

Once Barack Obama is elected president of the United States, he establishes as his highest priority the goal of energy independence for the United States. To do this he gathers a thousand (or two thousand, I don't know, however many it takes) of the best minds that we have, puts them in a room (okay, maybe a town in New Mexico), and keeps them there until they figure this thing out. The would have to go in with no preconceived notions or political agendas of which energy source is the best one to be developed, and they would have to come out with the ability to move immediately to build and implement the infrastructure (windmills, nuclear fusion plants, orbiting solar arrays, all of the above, something else) that will obviate the need for using any foreign or even domestic oil in this country. 

Now obviously this would be a huge investment of time and money and talent, but it is something that would in the very short term, save us all a lot of time, energy money and lives. Here's how. First, I firmly believe that these technologies can be developed quickly and effectively and that our nation's infrastructure can be re-engineered to adapt to them in a very short time if it has to happen or if there is a strong enough push for it. If we ran out of oil tomorrow, this is exactly what we would do, so why not do it anyway. Second, the phenomenal amount of savings we would realize from switching away from buying foreign oil to develop and using our own (free) natural resources would be monumental even in the short term. Third, no more wars for oil. No more presidents who kill in the name of national security on the basis of "our" oil being under "their" soil. That's a good thing.

We could call is the Brooklyn Project (though the Los Angeles Project might be more appropriate), and it would be the first time in more than 40 years that our country could actually feel good about a huge undertaking to make our world better (remember how we felt when we landed on the Moon? This would be kind of the same.)

There's one other solution to our energy "crisis." Hook Michael Phelps up to a water wheel and let him go.

Any questions?

DesertED Island Questions

I found this question on another blog (I added the book part) and thought I'd ask all of you to answer. You can see my answer below - I expect at least 10 people to respond!

If you were stuck on a desertED island with one book, one DVD, one meal, one CD, and one website, what would they be?

Book: Lord of the Rings

DVD: Anne of the Thousand Days - I've watched this at least 20 times & can easily continue rewatching. I have a number of lines from it memorized so this would give me a chance to memorize the entire movie!

Meal: Turkey & swiss cheese sandwich, potato salad, diet coke

CD: Johnny Cash, 16 Biggest Hits

Website: Google, I could spend all the time I wanted searching. Now, strictly speaking I'm not sure Google would count but it's my post so I'm going to say it is ok.


Robin, the lonely blog mistress

The Greatest Race Ever

Well sports fans. I've been pretty busy this week doing nothing more than sitting around watching the Olympics. For those of you who aren't familiar with what those are, they are a once-every-four-years sporting competition involving top athletes from all over the world. And for those folks and also those who haven't had a chance to watch them this year, last night the U.S. Men's 4 x 100m Relay Team pulled off one of the most remarkable comebacks in swimming history. You really had to have been there. But now, thanks to the beauty of the Internet, you can be. The link below to the video shows you what you missed. Watch it, you'll find yourself standing up and cheering. For those of you who don't know, Michael Phelps is without a doubt the greatest swimmer in history and will shortly own the record for the most number of gold medals ever at the Olympics and will be the greatest Olympic athlete ever. I'd also like to point out that Cullen Jones is a Black man and just won an Olympic gold medal, how cool is that?

The link to the video on NBC.com.

Serendipity

Serendipity is the effect by which one accidentally discovers something fortunate, especially while looking for something else entirely.

If you look to the right you'll notice that I've added a category called Serendipity. I have a bad, or good, depending on your perspective I guess, habit of looking for something online and ending up 2 hours later in an entirely different place with no recollection of what I started out looking for. I always find something fortunate though. This category will be a place to share some of the sites I come across. I would be VERY happy if other people added to it and shared some sites they like.

This applies to the Check out these blogs & Did you Know sections also. Feel free to add anything you find interesting. I've said it before but it bears repeating - THIS IS NOT MY BLOG -Share!

If you are a registered user you can easily edit the sections - it is pretty self-explanatory but if you need help I'm happy to assist.

Anyway, back to Serendipity - I've added a few links, click on them, follow where they lead, hopefully you'll be pleasantly surprised at where you end up.

Robin, the lonely blog mistress

Silent Sunday

Gas Prices

Investigating the Rise in "Gas"

There is to be a Government investigation into the recent frequent advances in the price of gasoline. To the man in the machine the cause of the advances is very simple: John D. [Rockefeller] and his associates "need the money"–and have the power to get it. However, the investigtion will be welcomed by all consumers, who will hope that it may result, as promised by United States Commissioner William J. Harris, in "remedial legislation." Harris says it is also possible that those responsible may be prosecuted "if we find that there has been any systematized discrimination against certain cities or localities." But it is not at all likely that any special discrimination has been practiced. Kennett R. Kingsbury, vice-president of the Standard Oil Company, says that the local price of 18 cents a gallon is simply the result of the law of supply and demand, and that "the price of gasoline in California and the Pacific Coast is now from 2 to 12 cents lower per gallon than anywhere in the country." This is probably true, but is there any good reason why it should not be so? Where is oil more abundant, or produced at a lower cost than California?

Thus far the United States Government has not been very successful in controlling prices in any commodity, but it is possible that means may be found to effect a change in this respect. Possibly a "war measure" fixing prices, similar to that enforced in Germany, may point the way.

Despite the fact that the Standard Oil Company claims that the advance in the price of gasoline is fully justified by prevailing conditions, that concern has just been granted permission to issue stock to the amount of $25,000,000 for distribution as a dividend to its stockholders. This represents the accumulated net surplus profits of the company, and is the biggest "watermelon" ever cut by a California corporation, having a cash value of nearly $94,000,000 at current quotations. It will go far to convince the consumer of gasoline that the price of that article is inflated with a very superior of grade of gas.

---

The Star
San Francisco, March 4, 1916

Having Cats is Good

A study found that people who do not have cats have a 40% higher risk of having a heart attack. Cats reduce stress thereby helping to reducing heart attack and other health risks. Some cardiologists disagree with these findings (I just put in this article because the cat in the picture looks like Pippin!).

Other studies have shown that having a pet reduces blood pressure and increases the tendency to exercise. The exercise is for dogs because people take them out to walk. I think cats may decrease exercise. The longer you look at that cat sleeping 16 hours a day, perfectly content, the nicer it looks! Cats are especially good pets for seniors as they are easy to care for and provide companionship.

Anyway this post is mostly an excuse to put up pictures of my cats! I do agree that cats are good for you though. They ask very little and yet provide unlimited love and affection. They are furry and warm to cuddle with and no matter how bad you feel will always make you smile.

Robin, the lonely (except for my cats!) blog mistress

Dag Hammarskjold

Wandering through blogs last night I came across a post about Dag Hammarskjold. If you don't know who he was, I'll let you read the post to find out rather than repeat the information here (it's good to wander around looking at new things!). Hammarskjold's journal, Markings, is one of my very favorite books. Probably #2 on my desert island list (I'm sure you all know what #1 is). Like the post author, I too remember when I first found the book. Many, many years ago, more than I like to remember, I worked in downtown San Francisco. At lunchtime I used to wander around to bookstores and lust after books I couldn't buy. At the time there was a big Crown Books on, I think, Post Street. I was in there one day looking around and found Markings. Ok, I'll confess, it was about 26 years ago. Anyway the book has been a favorite of mine ever since. Here are a few quotes from it that I particularly like:

Never, "for the sake of peace and quiet," deny your own experience or convictions. (Good advice that I need to remember.)

Maturity: among other things--not to hide one's strength out of fear and, consequently, live below one's best.

Dare he, for whom circumstances make it possible to realize his true destiny, refuse it simply because he is not prepared to give up everything else?

The ride on the Witches' Sabbath to the Dark Tower where we meet only ourselves, ourselves, ourselves.

One of the things I like about reading Markings is that it makes me say ouch because so much of what he says resonates for me. Well, mostly I like it. Anyway, give it a try, hopefully you'll say ouch also.

Robin, the lonely blog mistress

Poetry Wednesday

You darkness, that I come from,
I love you more than all the fires
that fence in the world,
for the fire makes
a circle of light for everyone,
and then no one outside learns of you.

But the darkness pulls in everything:
shapes and fires, animals and myself,
how easily it gathers them!--
powers and people--

and it is possible a great energy
is moving near me.

I have faith in nights.


Rainer Maria Rilke
from A Book for the Hours of Prayer

Emma would have loved this

Greetings weekly (weakly? you decide) readers. I had plans to wax poetic on the latest insanity out of San Francisco, but something came my way just as I sat down and I feel that I have to pass that on instead of barraging you with my dogma. For those of you who don't know my friend Roman, he is somebody that I've known since I began the 7th grade, and he is, also, a remarkable person and somebody I truly am lucky to know. Roman retired about two and a half years ago and since then he has been...well I'm not sure what he's been doing since then, but he seems a lot more relaxed and he travels a lot. Anyway, he is going back to school (Cal) to finish his degree (he has three classes I believe) and then, who knows what. Last week I met Roman for lunch by campus and we had a great time, catching up on the past six months, relaying stories of our various trips, etc. After he met with me, Roman headed off somewhere on campus, I believe, and met somebody very interesting. His name is Matt, and I don't know anything about him, but Roman really seemed to be impressed. All I that I do know about Matt (other than Roman's recommendation, which is good enough for me) is contained in the following video. I hope that you enjoy it and take it for just exactly what it is. You can also see the video here.

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

Foot Update

This is kind of fun - taking pictures of my foot! It looks worse than last night, it is swollen and more bruised, although it is hard to see in the pictures. It also hurts a lot! I tried to get Jill to stay home from work and take care of me but she wouldn't. I've had several talks with the cats explaining how they need to wait on Mommy but they just look at me like I'm crazy - which is pretty much how they always look at me. Walking isn't to bad except for going up & down the stairs - I'm glad there are only five!

Silent Sunday (with an explanation)

Being the ambitious, healthy, energetic person that I am (I hear a lot of laughing), I got up Saturday morning and went out to walk. I drove over to the San Leandro Marina, put on my Ipod and started out walking. After a short distance I heard the noise of an airplane. You can watch the planes coming in to land at the Oakland Airport and I like to watch them while I walk. I looked up but didn't see any plane because there were a lot of clouds. While I was scanning the sky watching for it to emerge from a cloud, I continued walking. Unfortunately I walked myself off the paved part of the walking trail and into the dirt. This is a drop of, I don't know, maybe 4-8 inches. Stepping off it while you aren't paying attention to what you are doing is a bad idea. I twisted my ankle and caused myself excruciating pain. So for Silent Sunday what you all get to look at is my ugly swollen, bruised foot! Warning: I wouldn't click on these to make them larger - my feet aren't that great looking!

Robin, the lonely (suffering) blog mistress

Fighting City Hall --

Grants Pass style. A news article on political dealings in one of our northern states was brought to my attention recently. Apparently the city council in Grants Pass (GP) is attempting to silence the dissident voice of one of its wilder members. You'll see why I used "wilder" when you look at the picture accompanying the article. Don't you agree this guy looks just a little out of it? Anyway back to the story.

I don't know all the details but it sounds like the city council was attempting to convince the good citizens of GP that there is unanimity among council members. According to Councilmember Kangas that is not the case. You can read the article for yourself but I think it is clear that something is going on up there and this guy is in the middle of it. I just thank my lucky stars that I'm not related to him!

I had a problem trying to link to the article so just scroll down to read.

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Community

Last Update Monday, July 28, 2008

Kangas upset by 'council' River District opinion

KANGAS

By Jim Moore of the Daily Courier

Grants Pass City Councilor Bill Kangas wants to make sure the public knows the City Council did not prepare "a statement to correct misinformation and questions about the Downtown River District."

The statement was presented to the council last Monday by Council President Tim Cummings and it was subsequently submitted to the Daily Courier as a guest opinion that ran on the paper's editorial page.

A press release that accompanied the statement stated: "The Grants Pass City Council has prepared a statement to correct misinformation and questions about the Downtown River District."

That raised Kangas' ire because he said the council never voted on the statement and the subject was never discussed in an official meeting.

Not only that, he doesn't agree with the statement and he got on the phone to City Manager David Frasher to let him know just that.

"After a lengthy discussion with City Manager Frasher the first sentence of the press release from the city was revised," Kangas said.

Frasher said that Kangas did contact him on Thursday, but added that Mayor Len Holzinger had notified him on Wednesday "that he and two other council members were upset with the press release regarding the Downtown River District."

Subsequently a revised press release was issued stating: "A majority of the Grants Pass City Council has signed a statement to correct misinformation and questions about the Downtown River District." The new press release does not mention who prepared the statement.

However, Frasher told the Daily Courier that city staff prepared the statement in the sense that they "punched the keys."

He said the only thing unusual about the situation is that the statement became a guest opinion piece. "It was always our intention to put fact sheets together," Frasher said, noting that it is a common practice following council approval of a complicated issue because there are usually a lot of questions.

Meanwhile, Frasher, Kangas, Holzinger and Cummings participated in a conference call on Thursday that led to the revised press release. Frasher, in a memo to the council, did say that he believed the original release reasonably reflected what had occurred and that publicity surrounding the district and Kangas, Holzinger and Councilor Lisa Berger makes it clear they oppose the council's adoption of the district.
However, he said that during the conference call it was determined "there would be no harm in issuing a revised press release."

Frasher also informed the council that the original press release "was in no way intended to imply that elected officials were unanimous in their views about the River District Plan or that dissenting views did not exist."

The guest opinion was signed by Cummings and Councilors Jack Patterson, DonnaJean Wendle, Del Renfro and Jocelyn Richardson.

Controversy has surrounded the River District Plan since it was approved by the council in June by a 6-2 vote.

The five councilors who signed the statement voted for the plan as did Jeff Hyde. Kangas and Berger voted against it.

The ordinance creating the plan survived a veto attempt by Holzinger and now the Concerned Citizens of River Community have organized a signature campaign on a referendum to set the ordinance aside.

Kangas, Holzinger and Berger have helped collect signatures.

The guest opinion, which was published in Friday's edition of the Daily Courier, addresses several debated points of the plan, including potential costs and potential impact on tax bills.

"I disagreed with the statement because some of the listed arguments are misleading," Kangas said. "In my opinion this statement about the Downtown River District Plan presented to me at the (Monday) workshop by Tim Cummings is vague and leaves me wondering what to believe."

o o o

Reach reporter Jim Moore at 474-3721 or jmoore@thedailycourier.com



Robin, the lonely (but fortunately not related to this guy) blog mistress