If you didn’t go out last night to see the Lyrid Meteor Shower, you’ll probably be able to see some leftovers tonight. I’m planning on going down to Boiler Bay tonight (er, last night), to see what I can see. Too bad my camera isn’t up to the task of taking pictures at night. I’ll let you know what I see!
This is our daily open thread — Happy Earth Day!!
TheZoo 
Unfortunately there’s too much ambient light in the vicinity for good viewing.
Watching the sky is incredible..the other night Venus was our greeter not too long after sunset.
During the day – things with wings ply their trade: hunting from high places then stooping at near 200 mph to surprise prey (in our area generally a pigeon although a Ruddy Duck and Avocet have found the sacrifice to feed the young Peregrines).
The sky is impressive all of its 24 hours.
Happy Earth Day
Saturday hate mail-a-palooza: George Rockwell makes a settlement offer
Your link is to a dKos main page. here’s one to the hate mail.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/04/21/1085170/-Saturday-hate-mail-a-palooza-George-Rockwell-makes-a-settlement-offer
Wow. George got through three sentences before using the word “jew.” Well done!
These freaks who think that someone can live outside the system and still collect “welfare” have obviously never applied for Social Security and/or Medicare. Those who collect any benefit from the government are subject to a great deal of scrutiny and, if Reichwhiners get their way, that level of scrutiny will only increase.
Okay, I thought “Ursa” was supposed to be a bear. The still shot in that video makes Ursa Major look like some kind of canine.
I completely forgot about the meteor shower. We rarely ever get good viewing for these things, and with the intense rain storms we’re supposed to get tonight, I doubt we’ll be able to see anything tonight. Oh, well. Aren’t there meteor showers of one kind or another every month?
The caption reads “Hillary Rodham Clinton and Chilean President Michelle Bachelet”
They’ve got to be carefully taught.
It’s rarely wise to hate whole groups of people, but it’s not unwise to distrust certain groups of people. For example, when religious people come knocking at your door claiming they know how to save your immortal soul, it’s good to be wary. (You could waste a lifetime following their advice only to find they were wrong all along.)
I’d also be suspicious of anyone selling something door-to-door that I didn’t personally know or recognize as being from my area. (If you’re unlikely to ever see that person again, there’s no reason to believe what they say about what they’re trying to sell you.)
Oh, and Republicans. There’s no reason in the world to believe anything a Republican says. That doesn’t mean you should hate them, just that you should distrust them. They have a documented history of distorting reality in order to make you fear anyone not like you. (That’s not to say you can completely trust a Democrat, just that you can completely distrust a Republican.)
To repiggie wingnuts, quesitoning anything they say or do means we “hate” them.
Which is making me hate them…
I don’t know who thought gratuitous use of the word “fuck” would get someone to adopt a cat, but this is funny.
http://twitpic.com/9cvbdk
Why Wayne, what statement on that pic did you disagree with? It’s all true! 😀
I had to keep that!
Actually I thought the whole thing hilarious, especially the part about the whiskers. “They’re used as sensors or some shit” 😀
I’d adopt that fuckin’ cat.
That’s it, I’m dying my hair orange and letting my fuckin’ whiskers grow! 😀
Already beat you to it. Just have to buy my plane ticket to Oregon now… 🙂
Oh you guys. 😳
Just double-checked your comment. You said “I’d adopt that fuckin’ cat,” not “I’d fuck that adoptin’ cat.” Looks like I dyed my hair orange and white for nothing. 🙂
We need pictures!!! 😀
I would, too, if we didn’t already have too many cats.
Awww, Wayne, you know you want another mutherf’n pussy…..cat.
The Insane Clown Posse has an ad for a cat.
Interesting.
So, Fox News Channel completely fabricates a quote by Obama and it ends up being repeated as fact in the Washington Post. Journalism in America is dead.
Years ago, Fox won a court case in Florida, granting it the absolute right to fabricate stories and present them as “news.” If you want journalism, you’re going to have to watch Comedy Central. With Fox and the rest of the Murcock empire, you’re just watching fiction, packaged as if it were reality.
Rupert’s propaganda machine propagating lies isn’t really news. In fact, I would be much more surprised if one found an example of them telling the whole truth and nothing but the truth. The sad part is that the loyal worshipers will never check their own facts and, even if FAUX”News” issues a retraction, they would continue to believe the lie and assert that the retraction is the result of FAUX”News” caving to pressure from “libruls”. I believe the technical term is “confirmation bias” although the Dunning-Kruger effect is also at play.
Wal-Mart Silenced Mexican Bribe Inquiry: NY Times
If former Rep. William Jefferson is in jail for bribing officials in Nigeria, these WalMart execs need to share his cell.
The CYA statements begin:
The rain has begun here in Dutchess County, NY. It’s supposed to be a heavy rainfall tonight with high winds. Parts closer to the Great Lakes could get snow! Yeah, sure, “Climate change is a hoax” my ass!
We’re actually getting a few really nice days before the weather goes back to normal, er, shit. Today and tomorrow are forecast to be 80F, FFS! I’ve got to scheme something for work tomorrow that will keep me out of the office as much as possible.
I haven’t been back to work on a Monday since the one my nephew died. I really need to go into the office tomorrow. Besides, I’ve used up all my sick and personal days until July. I’ll just have to tough it out and get through the day. Somehow.
Fun little exercise: http://www.earthday.org/footprint-calculator
I’m, apparently, not a very good person. If everyone lived as I do, it would take 5-1/2 Planet Earths to sustain our lifestyles.
I was 5.2 answering the general questions. I got it down to 4.7 with the detailed questions.
Damn. I consider myself a person with a simple lifestyle, with few needs, not a raging consumer, but one who recycles alot, tries to eat locally, ect…etc… and it takes 3.8 planets to sustain my lifestyle. Well the good news is that I’m a better person than Wayne. 😉
You might be better than Wayne
Requiring fewer planets to sustain
But you’ve got to admit
He’s lucky as shit
Going to bed every night with Jane
Yikes, 3.9 earths if everyone lived like me. Still, I’m a better person than Wayne. 😉
LOL me too 🙂 I got 3.6
Hmmm. 3.4 but there are a couple categories that I would dispute. I use very little electricity and about half of that is for my aquarium which is a net CO2 consumer. I almost always have my heat off because the building is as warm as I like it. And there really isn’t a category for my travel which finds me in a car or bus 3-5 times a month if that. I also had to make an arbitrary guess on where my food comes from. The overwhelming majority of my meat, eggs, and dairy is local and produce is local during the summer but, living in Minnesota, fresh fruit and veggies are seasonal. So? My footprint changes during the course of the year but I think that mine is a bit lower than the calculator would indicate because it doesn’t allow for some variables that I take advantage of.
6.0. But if I lived in Turkey, 1.8
3 planets (supposedly).
As with pete, I use very little electricity. I have no gas in my little apartment yet that’s not addressed – only “I don’t know” or $5.00 minimum. Another thing: there’s no in between a duplex/fourplex and a highrise apartment building (which would change ones footprint). I live in a low rise larger.
It seems it’s electricity that drives up our footprint.
(It doesn’t give a true picture when you can’t choose “none” for monthly consumption of clothing)
**low rise larger than duplex/fourplex, yet much smaller than a high-rise
I added the, hopefully, final accent to the glider. I’m amazed at how a couple pieces of blue tape brought the whole look together. I’m even more amazed at how the cheap thing flies. I’m averaging about 10 minutes of soaring to 1 minute of motor run and I’m still relearning how to fly. Today I also attracted the attention of a pair of sea gulls that shared a thermal with me for a couple minutes. I must admit that they are much better at it than me.
pete, that has to be thrilling – to fly with the winged things paying attention, if only for the briefest of time. Certainly reads as if you’ve not forgotten much of your, former, flying days.
The glider is striking – blue and orange are stand outs so it must be a bit easier for you to keep track.
Yep. Just about every solid plane I’ve built has ended up with blue and orange. If/when I get another I’m going to try out the fluorescent blue paint to go with the orange and it should be really “loud”. For open structures I would generally use a transparent covering and that shows up even better. Transparent red with fluorescent green shows up farther away than the radios work.
I’ve always been amazed at how birds will try to figure out what that funny thing is. There’s even a hawk in Germany that has brought down more than a few RC planes that invaded it’s territory but I’ve never had a bird react with hostility towards one of mine.
Speed freaks like to attribute many of the great aerodynamic accomplishments to the military but some of the most significant advances in airfoil efficiency have come from the glider world.
A glider has to be efficient.
An F-4 does not
Indeed. One of the guys who taught me how to fly RC models was a F-8 Crusader pilot and instructor who spent his free time flying full scale sailplanes and designing, building, and flying RC sailplanes. He had a great quote that I’ll never forget.
He said: “a sailplane seduces the air while a jet beats it into submission.”
I enjoy aerobatics but nothing gives me as much satisfaction as squeezing minutes out of thermals and trying the occasional loop without losing altitude. I’m not quite back to the point where I can catch the glider on landing but I am bringing it back to my feet as a rule.
I heard it this way: “A jet sucks its way through the air, while a helicopter beats it into submission.”
It probably depends on what’s your favorite flying machine. 😉
I was here earlier but you guys were so worked up about that fucking cat you scared me off. I’m a delicate flower.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA!!!1!!!! Good one, Shayne. 😉
“I’m a delicate flower.”
So’s a Venus Fly Trap.
(With all that talk about an f’n pussy-cat, there had to be a fly trapped somewhere….
😉
De-legitimizing Christians outside the evangelical tribe.
“Millions of white evangelical Protestants voted for Barack Obama in 2008. Millions of them. Millions of us. More than the combined total populations of Alaska, Delaware, Montana, the Dakotas, Vermont, Wyoming, Rhode Island and West Virginia. But for the most part, the fundraisers and vote-herders of the religious right have succeeded in getting the media to play along with the weird idea that these millions of people do not exist.”
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/2012/04/16/de-legitimizing-christians-outside-the-evangelical-tribe/
Is that your smiling face, badmoodman?
Non sequitur, I know.
Is that your bulging biceps, Zooey?
Of course!
It does seem that moderate Christians are not buying the crap being shoveled by the Reichwhiners. My biggest question is; what took them so long? The Reichwhiners have been off the rails at least since Raygun started humping Fallwell’s leg.
Last week I met a candidate for commonweath’s attorney who described herself as a “christian conservative”. I told her we had a lot in common as I was a “christian liberal”. Another person actually said they had never heard of such a thing. I assured him we exist. It was very strange.
Christian Liberals follow Christ’s teachings.
Christian Conservatives follow Christ.
That is the difference. And it’s as different as saying Judeaism, Muslim, and Christianity all have the same God in common.
Mitch Daniels: Romney Doesn’t Need A Targeted Strategy For Women, Hispanics
Yeah, cuz “fuck them.”
Keep talking!!
I mean really, why should he try to appeal to the little people? They are all just so…little. Its not like 99% of the country matters when the 1% has the money to buy everything. That’s why Bitch wants to be his VP.
Bitch has a “wife problem.” I wonder if he really wants to throw her under that particular bus?
If you get a chance, watch this Bill Moyers interview at C&L, or catch it on your PBS station like I just did.
Eric Alterman: I Fear I’ve Written the Eulogy For Economic-Based Liberalism
Okay guys, I’m going to post a couple
boringer…muted color canvas grocery bags in the shop. You can look and tell me if a man would be willing to carry one into the Piggly Wiggly.Looks good to me. Speaking only for myself, we men generally stress function over form. Canvas or burlap in solid colors that don’t call attention to the fact that we are carrying a giant purse should prove to be a hit.
The bag I just put up is brown, and the new design with be a nice Earth Day dark green. *snore*
😉
Here’s the link to the newest canvas bag!
I woke up in the middle of the night last night with an idea for another version of the canvas bag, this one will be lined and the handles attached a bit differently. That will be up within the next week. 🙂
Question Queen Z. Looking at the dimensions, it is unclear to me if this is a shoulder bag, or hand carried. If shoulder, the 9″ drop would bring it to my armpit. 18″ would bring it to approx. waist area. If hand held, okay, but I would think most men like their hands free. Gettin closer to the Clooney look. 🙂
Oh silly me, this is a grocery bag. (goes to my corner)
What are you looking for, nwoldguy? A messenger bag type thing?
I’m afraid to answer…well I’m not sure what a messenger bag thingy is.
This is a messenger bag thingy:
Yes, but with a smaller or shorter flap, and without the security snaps/buckles.
Yep, you’re looking for a messenger bag type thingy. 🙂
I’m working up to that level of skill.
Yep. I can wait till you’re up to speed. 😉
Awww, thanks. 🙂
I was envisioning camouflage bags for the Pacific northwest crowd. Just the thing one needs when shopping for ammo.
Oregon’s weird and wired. You’re thinking of Idaho and Eastern Washington. Now they’re freakin crazy.
Well, that’s still the Pacific northwest from my perspective. 🙂
I can vouch for that. 😯
Yeah, but what if you set it down? You’d never find it again!
I just bought a little piece of camo fabric today. A special request for a “manly” iPad cover. I’m game!
So a group of {social or ethnic unit you wish to insult} are out hunting, and they come upon this stunningly beautiful woman sitting naked in a field. One of the hunters goes up to her and stammers, “Are you game?” She replies, “I sure am!”
So he shot her.
It’s a great bag and I will probably order one. The only problem is it will end up hanging on the hook by the back door by the one I already have and forget to take to the store with me 6 trips out of ten. The reason men have pants pockets is because if we had to carry anything we would be constantly trying to remember where we left what ever we were carrying.
or why?
Keep it on your head. That might help. 😆
Keep what? I got to much other shit there. Time to defrag and delete my grey matter’s hard drive.
That was an answer to hoodthunk. He said something a while back about putting a bag on his head, so I’m beating it to death.
RUN HOODA…SHE’S GOING TO BEAT YOU TO DEATH!
Hell, why not a bag with a “holster” sewn inside. Styles ranging from .22 to .50 caliber.
I think they’d feel frightened and alone if their pistol wasn’t on their belt.
Plastic grocery bags are outlawed in my city. No one seems too worried about “fashion” when it comes to toting canvas or mesh bags.
Most keep a few bags in the car.
Same in Portland. I hate those damn plastic bags, except when it comes to dog walkies. Then they’re pretty convenient. 🙂
oxo-biodegradeable pet waste bags
http://www.bowwowwaste.com
Good god, those are expensive. I think those are the same bags we get at the little park across from my son’s building.
But shit matters…I also get mine from our local doggy park.
Very true. Shit matters. 🙂
I can’t take my old girl to the doggy park, cuz she’s an ill-mannered meanie to other dogs. The only thing I could never train out of her.
She just thinks that “being Queen of Everything” means just that – no tolerance from the lowly canines! She must assert her power over all!
*sigh* It’s just so obnoxious…
Compostable bags for picking up dog waste:
Well, I just got an order for two iPad covers, which will be a challenge since i’ve never laid eyes on an iPad. I think a trip to Fred Meyer is in order, with my trusty measuring tape. The learning curve will be steep on this one, even though I do have a pattern! They always need adjusting.
Working on another pet bed this evening, and then I get down to studying for the iPad covers — one camo and the other girly.
Steady as she goes..It truly is great to read your creativity is appreciated and clientele is growing!
Camo iPad cover — cognitive dissonance on that one …
I might end up with a local RC club. I went out for an evening flight and a little league practice was just breaking up. I ended up with an audience of six kids and three dads who all seemed pretty interested. The dads seemed more excited than the kids when I told them that one could get started for around $150.00. One fellow even asked for a website to check out and I gave him my email address in case he needs an instructor. It would be nice to have allies if some killjoy tries to kill my joy!
This has been gnawing and clawing since Friday – need to let it out on a rant;
I try to live green – even shop at “Recycled Books”. Only order used books, on line, that will be shipped from the shortest distance to home.
My rent requires personal check or money order. A year ago my bank gave me 12 counter checks so I needed to get more. Seems they only do that once then you have to order a box of checks. I don’t need a box of checks… “they’re free with your account”. “That’s not the point. I don’t like waste.” “Sorry we can’t give anymore counter checks unless you ordering a box.”
“Can I order just 15 or 20 for a box.” “No. The minimum is one box of (she thinks) 60”.
No way could I talk them out of wasteful use of our finite resources. Needing the counter check (they’ll give me four when I order the box which had to be done on the spot) I went against my conscience and that is bothering me..
thanks for allowing the vent/rant.
(now what am I going to do with so damn many checks when they arrive)
I still like to use duplicate checks for bills. I’ve had a couple disputes that were resolved when I sent them a fax of the original check. I was even able to make my landlord rescind a late fee when I was able to prove that they had misplaced the original which they found about a month later. I had one really bad experience with an online fish supply company and I ended up taking a $30.00 loss even though I had an email that confirmed I had paid them.
60 checks are 5 years of rent checks!
Exactly. It isn’t the idea of checks…it’s the damn wastefulness of having to order so many! I think of the beautiful trees.
I still pay my utility bill by check. I still deposit checks to future-ex in her bank, except now that I work, I rarely have to do that, because I only get a 30 minute lunch, so she picks them up. I tried to get her to use her credit union account for her bills but she doesn’t like their website. I could transfer directly if she did. Insurance and cable get done over the phone now.
Funny, I never thought of paper checks as much of an environmental issue though. They still are better than giving Visa a cut of the transaction using the debit card.
I’m going to PT (Peregrine Therapy).
Watching those majestic, magnificent flying machines brings a sense of calm!
(pete, I understand your joy at flying gliders. The joy derived from watching the falcons is the same)
Indeed. That’s what got me restarted in the hobby. I was attending a BBQ at my friend’s house out in the country and watched two vultures and two hawks soar from treetop height to out of sight. I ordered the glider the following week because I was dreaming of soaring every night. Alas, even though I’m enjoying the current glider I am resigned to the fact that I will have to get a bigger, contest grade, sailplane before too long. What the heck; if I’m going to largely deprive myself of beer and snacks I find it easier if i actually dispose of my disposable income. Plus, one can buy so much more for the money than back in the old days.
The lie is spreading. It’s bad enough that they have to whine about everything President Obama says but it’s sick and sad when they have to make shit up to be outraged about. It must be a horrible way to live.
http://mediamatters.org/blog/201204220004
I didn’t think it was wrong to use the ‘silver spoon’ analogy, even if he did mean it to relate to Romney. The last three Republican Presidential candidates have all been ‘legacy’ accepted to their universities, and Obama got in because of his grades. Of course, he never would have gotten into the premiere law school, if he hadn’t been black, according to the Faux-bots. They even made him president of the Law Review, just because he’s black!
Moyers and Alterman discuss affirmative action in the interview I linked above.
It maybe gets someone into the school. It doesn’t get them better grades.
The funny part is that all the whining should just serve to remind people that Mittens was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Of course, most of the FAUX”News” worshipers are far beyond reason but I don’t see it gaining Mittens any votes.
I got a new bag today, a Stanley carpenters tool bag that is the perfect fit for the new mobile printer (Bluetooth, lithium ion battery, compact, all the bells and whistles.) Made a 400 mile round trip yesterday to Albuquerque to get it.
I’m stylin’ now!
My new co-worker is in the bag every night, and not just the bottle in the brown paper, but those little sandwich baggies too.
Yeesh.
i was wonderin’ if we’d hear from you this weekend!
Just make sure you stay out of the bag, and don’t rely on that one in a pinch!
Is the printer for personal or work-related use?
It’s for personal use, so that I can get a different job while working the present one. 😉
It’s a dicey situation with the new guy, he’s not really paying attention.
On a lot of levels.
I’m doing alright, spent the past two weeks cleaning out rodent infested workplaces, full Hanta virus protective gear… nasty business.
Hopefully, the Republicans won’t close your rural post office before you connect with your next employer. Since it was part of the New Deal, I think they wouldn’t mind rolling back the rural electrification program too. It’s too expensive to maintain those lines for so few customers, you know. The fracking will finish off their running water, then their land can be bought cheap for strip mining and oil/gas exploration.
My home post office is safe, for now.
Funding cuts to the agency I work for continue, on several levels.
It’s not pretty. The local tea bagger citizenry are drooling in their troughs, just waiting for us to close up shop so they can go in and cut, graze and pillage.
Yuck. Stay safe, Raven.
My twitter friend Gina signed off with this cute pic
Nice find Wayne!
Visiting the gallery where I have my artwork on display I was shown a photo of a grey fox trotting towards the camera with a grey dove feather stuck at the perfect jaunty angle from it’s mouth. The grey of the feather perfectly matched the color of the fox.
Adorable.
Time to close down and head up the canyon.
In the immortal words of Garrison Kielor:
“Be well, do good works, and keep in touch!”
Thanks for keeping in touch. We already know you do good works (we’ll follow your example one day). Sounds as if you are well.
We’ll keep a light in the window for you!
Another pet blanket ‘In Z Bag.’ Soooo cute!
It’s just the opposite of this pet blanket, and on the back there’s flannel with doggy footprints all over it. 🙂