Spay Day

Today is Spay Day 2009. Don't forget to spay & neuter your pets - it's important!

Silent Sunday

Happy Valentine's Day!

I'm excited!

I joined the Bead Journal Project last year. It started in September and, as usual, I'm a little behind. Well actually more than a little - I just finished September. But I'm really pleased with the way it turned out and am anxious to start October. I plan to catch up by the end of March at the latest. Anyway please, please, please visit my stitching blog and look at it!

Robin, the lonely (but excited) blog mistress

Spay Day

February 24th is the 15th annual Spay Day. Sponsored by The Humane Society of the US & Humane Society International, it is a way to encourage people to save lives by spaying or neutering their pets.

More than three million cats and dogs are euthanized killed each year in shelters. You'll notice I said euthanized and crossed it out. It sounds to clinical and unemotional. They are killed and if you don't spay/neuter your animals you are contributing to the problem. There is really no excuse for not having this done. If money is a concern there are low and no-cost programs sponsored by humane societies.

Animals are not toys and when you adopt a cat or dog you take on a responsibility. Part of that responsibility is to ensure they don't reproduce. I know, kittens and puppies are cute. They aren't so cute when they're starving or being killed.

Spay/neuter your pets

The Vatican Channel

This is kind of cool. It's the YouTube Vatican Channel. You can watch a bunch of Vatican videos, listen to news and link to official Vatican stuff. Jill will probably never leave this one!

To Say Before You Die

I found these on a blog post called 50 things to say before you die. I'm only including a few here that I liked - if you want to read all of them click on the link! Now you may not want to say all 50 of them before you die but some may be worth saying to someone if you haven't already. Or maybe not.

• Thanks for everything you’ve done.
• You’ve changed my life.
• I’m doing what I was meant to do.
• I conquered my biggest fear.
• Glad to help you.
• I don’t care what people think.
• I’m proud of myself.
• I’ve never had more fun in my life.
• There’s more to life than this.
• I love you no matter what.
• I’m listening.
• I’m not giving up.
• I have all the time in the world.
• I’m not afraid.

Silent Sunday

Hubble Space Telescope

I love looking at pictures from the Hubble space telescope and I've put a number of them on this blog as silent sunday pictures. Now I get to vote on what Hubble will photograph! Not just me - all the rest of you can vote also!

"Hubble's Next Discovery -- You Decide" is part of the International Year of Astronomy celebrating the 400th anniversary of Galileo's observations. Anyone can vote to select the next object the Hubble Space Telescope will view. There are six objects you can choose from and you have until March 1st to vote. I'm leaning toward the Star-forming region which is currently in 3rd place.

A ! ! !

I got an A on my mid-term! Pretty cool isn't it?

Judgment Day

Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial - Airs on PBS Tuesday, Feb 10 at 8pm. This sounds like it might be interesting. It originally aired in 2007. I found the link while I was looking for information on a cat program!

From the Nova website:

In this program, NOVA captures the turmoil that tore apart the community of Dover, Pennsylvania in one of the latest battles over teaching evolution in public schools. Featuring trial reenactments based on court transcripts and interviews with key participants, including expert scientists and Dover parents, teachers, and town officials, "Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial" follows the celebrated federal case of Kitzmiller v. Dover School District. This two-hour special was coproduced with Paul G. Allen's Vulcan Productions, Inc.

In 2004, the Dover school board ordered science teachers to read a statement to high school biology students suggesting that there is an alternative to Darwin's theory of evolution called intelligent design—the idea that life is too complex to have evolved naturally and therefore must have been designed by an intelligent agent. The teachers refused to comply. Later, parents opposed to intelligent design filed a lawsuit in federal court accusing the school board of violating the constitutional separation of church and state.

"There was a blow-up like you couldn't believe," Bill Buckingham, head of the school board's curriculum committee, tells NOVA. Buckingham helped formulate the intelligent-design policy when he noticed that the biology textbook chosen by teachers for classroom use was, in his words, "laced with Darwinism."

NOVA presents the arguments by lawyers and expert witnesses in riveting detail and provides an eye-opening crash course on questions such as "What is evolution?" and "Is intelligent design a scientifically valid alternative?" Kitzmiller v. Dover was the first legal test of intelligent design as a scientific theory, with the plaintiffs arguing that it is a thinly veiled form of creationism, the view that a literal interpretation of the Bible accounts for all observed facts about nature.

Poetry Day

Vespers

Even as you appeared to Moses, because
I need you, you appear to me, not
often, however. I live essentially
in darkness. You are perhaps training me to be
responsive to the slightest brightening. Or like the poets,
are you stimulated by despair, does grief
move you to reveal your nature? This afternoon,
in the physical world to which you commonly
contribute your silence, I climbed
the small hill above the wild blueberries, metaphysically
descending, as on all my walks: did I go deep enough
for you to pity me, as you have sometimes pitied
others who suffer, favoring those
with theological gifts? As you anticipated,
I did not look up. So you came down to me:
at my feet, not the wax
leaves of the wild blueberry but your fiery self, a whole
pasture of fire, and beyond, the red sun neither falling
nor rising —
I was not a child; I could take advantage of illusions.

Louise Gluck

How to . . .

Ok, I really liked this. It is a post on the 11 most unnecessary "how to" guides online. Included are how-to: Use kitchen scissors, Snap your fingers and Organize your pen collection. Now some of you may be laughing when you read these and think a guide is not necessary. I actually have a vast pen collection and have been seeking information on how to organize it for some time. I was quite pleased to find this included.

A couple of the others I really liked were How to pet a cat and How to use a computer mouse. Again, these sound silly but I actually saw a class at the CV Adult School on how to use a computer mouse. It cost $5. Now if all those people who paid $5 were to just use the guide they would have that $5 to spend on something which would stimulate the economy. See I just solved the economic crisis. Oh, I guess you'd have to know how to use a mouse in order to read the article. Um, I'll have to think about that.

As far as How to pet a cat - anyone who has a cat must realize that a guide is definitely needed. Pet a cat wrong and you are in serious trouble not to mention great pain!

I found this link from a post on Neatorama. It's an interesting, kind of weird, eclectic blog with lots of information. Some of it kind of fun!

Opinion Editorial

It appears our relative to the north is making quite a name for himself in politics. I'm seeing myself at the next inauguration.

City utility rollbacks a necessity

By Bill Kangas for the Daily Courier

I generally agree with the majority of Editor Dennis Roler's editorials, but have to disagree with his opinion on the rollback of the 4.45 percent cost-of-living adjustment increase on Grants Pass water and sewer bills, as well as the rollback of system development charges for 2009. I believe the rollbacks were absolutely necessary. There are three main reasons.

First, the 4.45 percent COLA fees were calculated from November 2007 to October 2008.

The economy was tilting then, but not yet in a free fall as has happened since.

The problem for the consumer is not just the city bills, but all the other monthly service bills that continually show some kind of increase.

Add all these up, and there is significant extra money charged each month to the average working person such as myself.

The companies we work for are holding the line on raises, cutting back hours and/or laying off employees to survive. We are in the midst of an unprecedented economic crisis, so any savings helps out the working people in our community so they can remain safe with shelter, food and general necessities through this tough winter. When the recessionary times ease, we can look at bringing back COLA fees on a year-to-year basis.

Second, cutting the COLA fees on SDCs allows new businesses that want to come in the chance to do it at a lower cost. Anything we can do to encourage new businesses and business expansions in our city will benefit the people looking for work, as well as benefiting the city itself.

Again, the working people need jobs to support their families and keep them safe. We need to help the people who are out of work or working reduced hours, and not hinder them with more costs.

Third, by eliminating the 4.45 percent COLA fees, we are sending a positive message to the people that the City Council wants to reduce any fees it can. Currently, there is high unemployment coupled with an all-time record foreclosure rate. Grants Pass citizens will likely be voting on a public safety levy in May. I believe it must be passed for the security of all residents of our great city.

It is my opinion that asking the voters to support a public safety levy in the current economic climate, and after increasing their water and sewer bills, would make it challenging to pass the levy.

Finally, an increase in fees is not as significant to the city as it is to the citizens. The latest financial report of the city, presented to the council at its last meeting, showed a substantial fund balance, which can easily sustain long-term maintenance as well as providing for capital projects.


Bill Kangas has served on City Council since 2007 and is its president this year.

Silent Sunday

February is American Heart Month.