We live in a strange environment where our space travel and adventures are all bound by computer screens, television screens and movie theater screens.
There is a ten (10) degree difference between our front stoop and our back deck. It is 22 degrees at the stoop and 33 degrees on the deck. This has always been so but never at those extremes. At Lock 50 it was always warmer at the lock than it was on the lower guide wall which was 10 feet lower than the top of the wall at the lock. I used to know the sea level elevations but time has removed that presence of mind.
"The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) on Wednesday closed a section of the Gulf of Mexico to shrimping near the area where the massive oil spill earlier this year stemmed from as a precautionary move after a commercial fisherman found balls of tar in his shrimping net. NOAA said the closed area is about 4,200 square miles of Gulf federal waters off Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama and affects royal red shrimping.
The move was taken after a “commercial shrimper, having hauled in his catch of the deep water shrimp, discovered tar balls in his net,” NOAA said in a statement to AFP."
The day's name originated in Philadelphia, where it originally was used to describe the heavy and disruptive pedestrian and vehicle traffic which would occur on the day after Thanksgiving. Use of the term began by 1966 and began to see broader use outside Philadelphia around 1975. Later an alternative explanation began to be offered: that "Black Friday" indicates the period during which retailers are turning a profit, or "in the black."
In the middle of the night in Western Kentucky it a Holiday Called Thanksgiving. A day we thank the planet for the abundance of food it offers us. I did not slave in any field today (or this year) for I am too worn out, so I will be thankful that society still cares for me and has not bundled me off to some distant star. I may have bundled my self as I meet with the elderly monthly. That is my class, my age, my ability.
Can you imagine where their thoughts are going?
We had a wonderful day with our daughter and family yesterday for our Thanks Giving Day.
Corporate America has left our country. Ronald Reagan broke the unions so that all new employees at factories do not get any union scale pay, retirement or health care. The last great Union of employees to be broken is the Federal Employee who gave up Union scale wages for love of country and a sound retirement system and union scale health care.
Could you imagine coming home from work
New demand has recently strained supply, and there is growing concern that the world may soon face a shortage of the rare earths.[13] In several years, worldwide demand for rare earth elements is expected to exceed supply by 40,000 tonnes annually unless major new sources are developed.[14]
These concerns have intensified due to the actions of China, the predominate supplier. Specifically, China has announced regulations on exports and a crackdown on smuggling.[8] On September 1, 2009, China announced plans to reduce its export quota to 35,000 tons per year in 2010-2015, ostensibly to conserve scarce resources and protect the environment.[15] On October 19, 2010 China Daily, citing an unnamed Ministry of Commerce official, reported that China will "further reduce quotas for rare earth exports by 30 percent at most next year to protect the precious metals from over-exploitation".[16]
As a result of the increased demand and tightening restrictions on exports of the metals from China, searches for alternative sources in Australia, Brazil, Canada, South Africa, and the United States are ongoing.[17] Mines in these countries were closed when China undercut world prices in the 1990s, and it will take a few years to restart production as there are many barriers to entry.[8] One example is the Mountain Pass mine in California, which is projected to reopen in 2011.[10][18] Other significant sites under development outside of China include the Nolans Project in Central Australia, the remote Hoidas Lake project in northern Canada,[19] and the Mount Weld project in Australia.[10][18][20] The Hoidas Lake project has the potential to supply about 10% of the $1 billion of REE consumption that occurs in North America every year.[21] Vietnam signed an agreement in October 2010 to supply Japan with rare earths[22] from its northwestern Lai Châu Province.[23]
Also under consideration for mining are a sites such at Thor Lake in the Northwest Territories, various locations in Vietnam,[10][14] and a site in Southeast Nebraska, where Quantum Rare Earth Development, a Canadian company, is currently conducting test drilling and economic feasibility studies toward opening a niobium mine.[24] Additionally, a large deposit of rare earth minerals was recently discovered in Kvanefjeld in southern Greenland.[25] Pre-feasibility drilling at this site has confirmed significant quantities of black lujavrite, which contains about 1% rare earth oxides (REO). [26]
Another recently developed source of rare earths is electronic waste and other wastes that have significant rare earth components. New advances in recycling technology have made extraction of rare earths from these materials more feasible, and recycling plants are currently operating in Japan, where there is an estimated 300,000 tons of rare earths stored in unused electronics.[27]"
"If you heard that a proposed bill got 58 votes in support and 41 votes against, you'd think that would be a good thing, right? Not in the United States Senate, where the Paycheck Fairness Act died when a vote to move the bill forward failed by just that count -- 58 to 41, two votes short of the 60 votes required. It is the very same bill that passed in the House with bipartisan support in January 2009. Today, only Democratic senators voted to support Paycheck Fairness for women -- not a single Republican voted to allow the Senate to move forward. It is notable that the first vote after the election in which the American people sent a clear message that they want Washington to work better, the Republicans blocked a common sense measure aimed simply to help ensure that women get the pay they deserve."
Do you think the airlines and the government have gone too far with their scans and body pat downs? Is that a nun they are patting down? How about those x-ray specs their wearing?
It is raining out this morning. I am moving mom's computer into the kitchen. I will have to run a wire to her computer over to the kitchen table. Mom may not like that. But I have to move her computer out of our son's room to clean, paint and prep the room for a new floor.Do you think the airlines and the government have gone too far with their scans and body pat downs? Is that a nun they are patting down? How about those x-ray specs their wearing?
We have frost on the windows this morning. It is 35 degrees outside and a cool 70 indoors.
I worked out in the middle of the river year round as a Federal Employee. It was very cold on the river in the winter and very hot on the river in the summer.
The 1st thing I saw on the news this Veterans Day was that the Republican Party wanted to raise the Social Security Benefits of Veterans, old women, laborers and the disabled to a longer waiting period before becoming eligible (68 years old). Leave it to the Republicans to cut taxes for the wealthy and cut benefits to the aged (Social Security), sick (Medicare) and the young (education) of this nation.
My laptop this morning started to slow down. At first I thought it was my antivirus program doing it's job but that only runs on Sundays or when I ask it. It was some program that popped up while I was glancing at headlines this morning.
Mom has to work in the afternoon tomorrow. She is working harder each day and comes home sore and tired. Everyone that works for a living understands tired and sore.
The insurance companies we see everyday insure the government employees very well because we have a 22,000,000 member base to work with. As a group we are strong and we hold the price down with quality insurance. Can you imagine what our rates would be if 310,000,000 people ask for a group rate.
We have a military that watches over us with it's umbrella of air ships, ships, radar and law. Historical law helped industry develop safe industries for our foods under the umbrella. Strong unions under the umbrella helped industry develop safe working conditions for everyone. All this was at a cost from our paychecks. Nothing is free. Industry was always trying to cut costs and was constantly at war with the unions.
"Edison Pena, center, one of the miners who recently was rescued from a collapsed mine in Chile, crosses the finish line of the 2010 New York City Marathon in New York, New York, on Nov. 7, as his wife, Angelica Alvarez, waits to greet him."
It is raining outside this morning. It is a perfect fall day wet and dreary. All I need now is to be wandering the streets wet and tired. I am not outside and I am not wet. I spent a lot of time outside locking towboats in the rain and snow at the dam on days like this. It was our job (somebody has to be cold and wet on days like these) and like they say the mail has to be delivered and it was the same at the lock and dam. We never closed and we did not shut it down because of lightning, strong winds or icy conditions. What we did was lock boats in any weather.
It is not enough that Obama gets blamed for us being unemployed and poor. Now he wants to hold the same cards that Bush had, "Cut taxes for everyone (a popularity vote)".
The cameras lens has a different perspective than my eyes. I see the glow and the clarity of day from my point of view and the camera only sees the glow in the glass.
Are there secrets in our lives that only reading between the lines can reveal. Being open is very hard, I can move about freely but by choice I stay put. It is not the feeling that a home in one place is a comfortable shoe. By my standards the planet is my home and I would be comfortable anywhere on the planet. Those societies that tell humans how to behave and live would see my mental freedom as an eyesore and I would soon be found out.
