SEATTLEA skyline a good mayor helped to sculpt
Photo by MS(R)M
Hi again, folks. Well, this house joins the nation in mourning the passing of U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy (D) MA. His passing marks the end of what many considered a political dynasty; others, an almost Shakespearean royal family rocked by assassination, scandal, a bit of Prince Machiavelli and more than a hint of Camelot.
In praising the youngest Kennedy brother’s contributions during nearly 50 years in Congress, Sen. Orrin Hatch, (R) Utah cited a list which included a federally funded program for HIV/AIDS victims; health insurance for lower-income children, and tax breaks to fund medical research and development for rare diseases.
"Ted Kennedy was an iconic, larger than life United States Senator whose influence cannot be overstated."
Senator Kennedy, whose sister Eunice Kennedy Shriver passed away last week, was 77 and succumbed to a malignant brain tumor. For a look at the life and times of this remarkable ~ if not often controversial ~ American, please go here.
I was so relieved last week to note that, according to a Today Show poll, 83 percent of those responding approve of the First Lady wearing shorts. The news was greeted by a flood of congratulations to Michelle from a host of world leaders, including those in Ottawa, Dublin, London, Paris, Moscow, Beijing, Teheran and Austin, Texas. Many also said that it’s motivated them to take us, the American people, much more seriously for having decided that raging issue so decisively and in such relatively short order.
And without special interest groups. Or lobbyists, unions, picket lines, boycotts, protest marches, media blitzes and talk show barrages. We took a look, as a people, at the serious issues facing us and decided that this one must be dealt with swiftly, efficiently, and in no uncertain terms. We decided that a young woman who looks cool in shorts should be allowed to wear them on holiday. In public. And best of all, we did it together.
Well, here’s one that might have totally slipped under the Weird Radar, if nothing else but for the headline alone. Who needs gasoline if you have old beer? I mean what are we talking about, a garage full of partial empties and six packs with a couple cans we overlooked during the last orgy? This is Seattle. They don’t let you live like that here. It sets a bad example and encourages the wrong kind of people to come here.
But this comes from the Los Angeles Times so I took a look and what they’re talking about is this $10,000 machine that can take any organic waste and convert it to ethanol. It’s apparently just breaking the market and one of the investors in the system’s distributor is former L.A. Laker Shaquille O'Neal. It’s called the MicroFueler and you can visit their website here
The “Classiest Act in Politics” goes this week to Seattle two-term mayor Greg Nickels who finished third in this month’s primary and whose concession speech and press conference were totally lacking in rancor, recrimination or the least bit of ill humor. Greg’s served Seattle well for almost eight years and in citing what he felt were the contributions of his administration, he did not use the first person singular, nor did he limit those achievements to the political sector. It was about what “we” as the citizens of Seattle accomplished together. I hope his successor has Greg’s instinctive understanding of government’s role, as least as we’ve defined it here in our town.
Well, two critter stories this week and the first one is NOT fuzzy. But for anyone who loves watching what they keep discovering in the ocean, this one’s a trip. And again, you have GOT to love whoever writes the headlines. This one’s from the Portland Oregonian, my alma mater, and it’s slugged (newspaper talk for “titled”) “Flamboyant, deep-sea worms discovered off Oregon's coast”.
Okay, the fact that it creeps me out a little to think of someone getting to know a new species of deep sea worm discovered by watching the monitor of a remote controlled submarine 9,000 – 11,000 feet off the coast of Oregon well enough to ascribe personality traits to it, I do have to admire the spirit of discovery.
But a part of me is going to be watching this one real closely. We have tamed stranger species only to end up in the belly of the tiger, as it were. My general rule is that if I can’t meet these folks on their own turf or they on mine, it’s like give my best to the wife and family and have a good life. I do not box with bears, croon with cougars, dive with dolphins, fly with eagles, romp with Republicans or dance with wolves. They’re not that desperate for company and neither, quite yet, am I. Flamboyant worms. Yeah, that’s an image to cuddle up with.
Apparently Montana’s decided that collisions between 18-wheelers and grizzly bear, elk, deer, etc. along a 56 mile stretch of highway crossing a very popular migration path can be resolved on the side of interspecies cooperation rather than an apology for big road kill.
Not to mention what happens in a collision between the average grizzly and the occupants of these cute little phone booths on wheels insidious foreign nations have been covertly introducing into this country for some while now.
So human Montanans are building like 43 of these big wildlife crossing tunnels UNDER the highway. There’s some inspirational civil engineering and design going into these. The entire project is slated to be finished before this year’s first snows so if you’d like to see what this one looks like in development, here’s the site.
Well, that’s it for this week folks. We’re making it through this and it’s only a matter of applying what we’re learning now and hanging in just a bit longer. And we’re tough and we can do that, right?
Thanks once again for the ear. Take care, stay well and God Bless. We here at Northstar are honoured by your society.
Rusty
In praising the youngest Kennedy brother’s contributions during nearly 50 years in Congress, Sen. Orrin Hatch, (R) Utah cited a list which included a federally funded program for HIV/AIDS victims; health insurance for lower-income children, and tax breaks to fund medical research and development for rare diseases.
"Ted Kennedy was an iconic, larger than life United States Senator whose influence cannot be overstated."
Senator Kennedy, whose sister Eunice Kennedy Shriver passed away last week, was 77 and succumbed to a malignant brain tumor. For a look at the life and times of this remarkable ~ if not often controversial ~ American, please go here.
I was so relieved last week to note that, according to a Today Show poll, 83 percent of those responding approve of the First Lady wearing shorts. The news was greeted by a flood of congratulations to Michelle from a host of world leaders, including those in Ottawa, Dublin, London, Paris, Moscow, Beijing, Teheran and Austin, Texas. Many also said that it’s motivated them to take us, the American people, much more seriously for having decided that raging issue so decisively and in such relatively short order.
And without special interest groups. Or lobbyists, unions, picket lines, boycotts, protest marches, media blitzes and talk show barrages. We took a look, as a people, at the serious issues facing us and decided that this one must be dealt with swiftly, efficiently, and in no uncertain terms. We decided that a young woman who looks cool in shorts should be allowed to wear them on holiday. In public. And best of all, we did it together.
Well, here’s one that might have totally slipped under the Weird Radar, if nothing else but for the headline alone. Who needs gasoline if you have old beer? I mean what are we talking about, a garage full of partial empties and six packs with a couple cans we overlooked during the last orgy? This is Seattle. They don’t let you live like that here. It sets a bad example and encourages the wrong kind of people to come here.
But this comes from the Los Angeles Times so I took a look and what they’re talking about is this $10,000 machine that can take any organic waste and convert it to ethanol. It’s apparently just breaking the market and one of the investors in the system’s distributor is former L.A. Laker Shaquille O'Neal. It’s called the MicroFueler and you can visit their website here
The “Classiest Act in Politics” goes this week to Seattle two-term mayor Greg Nickels who finished third in this month’s primary and whose concession speech and press conference were totally lacking in rancor, recrimination or the least bit of ill humor. Greg’s served Seattle well for almost eight years and in citing what he felt were the contributions of his administration, he did not use the first person singular, nor did he limit those achievements to the political sector. It was about what “we” as the citizens of Seattle accomplished together. I hope his successor has Greg’s instinctive understanding of government’s role, as least as we’ve defined it here in our town.
Well, two critter stories this week and the first one is NOT fuzzy. But for anyone who loves watching what they keep discovering in the ocean, this one’s a trip. And again, you have GOT to love whoever writes the headlines. This one’s from the Portland Oregonian, my alma mater, and it’s slugged (newspaper talk for “titled”) “Flamboyant, deep-sea worms discovered off Oregon's coast”.
Okay, the fact that it creeps me out a little to think of someone getting to know a new species of deep sea worm discovered by watching the monitor of a remote controlled submarine 9,000 – 11,000 feet off the coast of Oregon well enough to ascribe personality traits to it, I do have to admire the spirit of discovery.
But a part of me is going to be watching this one real closely. We have tamed stranger species only to end up in the belly of the tiger, as it were. My general rule is that if I can’t meet these folks on their own turf or they on mine, it’s like give my best to the wife and family and have a good life. I do not box with bears, croon with cougars, dive with dolphins, fly with eagles, romp with Republicans or dance with wolves. They’re not that desperate for company and neither, quite yet, am I. Flamboyant worms. Yeah, that’s an image to cuddle up with.
Apparently Montana’s decided that collisions between 18-wheelers and grizzly bear, elk, deer, etc. along a 56 mile stretch of highway crossing a very popular migration path can be resolved on the side of interspecies cooperation rather than an apology for big road kill.
Not to mention what happens in a collision between the average grizzly and the occupants of these cute little phone booths on wheels insidious foreign nations have been covertly introducing into this country for some while now.
So human Montanans are building like 43 of these big wildlife crossing tunnels UNDER the highway. There’s some inspirational civil engineering and design going into these. The entire project is slated to be finished before this year’s first snows so if you’d like to see what this one looks like in development, here’s the site.
Well, that’s it for this week folks. We’re making it through this and it’s only a matter of applying what we’re learning now and hanging in just a bit longer. And we’re tough and we can do that, right?
Thanks once again for the ear. Take care, stay well and God Bless. We here at Northstar are honoured by your society.
Rusty
NORTHSTAR RECOMMENDS
To Your Health
To Your Health
If you’d like to know whether your eating habits are either adding years to your life or taking them off, take this RealAge quiz. It will not only score your real age against your health age but give you a program for improvement. I’ve been working this one for about a month now and yep, I feel a lot better.
Want to know how to live to be 100? Try this one.
Other Blogs
The Tomatoman Times – a life commentary blog with the blended stylings of John Steinbeck, Mark Twain, Jack London and Will Rogers. Poignant, at times rancorous but very contemporary and ultimate celebration.
Lords and Ladies of Leisure is sooooo misnamed and it’s an example of the humour with which a Seattle high tech victim deals with the wonderful world of unemployment. Kerri Marshall’s admittedly offbeat sense of humour spices up a blog also rich in practical advice. The comments from her readers are almost as entertaining of she is. If you’ve got a few minutes and want a little perspective on your own hard times, I highly recommend this one.
Media
Vinyl Cafe with Stuart McLean – Live from the smallest record store in North America. Canadian humor, entertainment and commentary at its maple leaf best. Popular on National Public Radio in the States.
Sightline Daily (formerly Tidepool) – The “United Press International/Reuters of the American West/ Updated and informative news shorts with links to the source. Its editors draw from a coverage area which includes Alaska, British Columbia, California, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington. Update and informative collected news shorts from those sources. They also put out an excellent weekly environmental edition.
U Got Style is a monthly ezine dedicated to independent films. Fully illustrated, it features hard news, interviews, reviews and a wide variety of other information. It’s also fun to read.
The Vancouver Sun, outstanding source for Canadian and world news.
Online Tools for the Kit
Free People Search – This is an American online White Pages that I found really simple, quick and user friendly. I looked for myself under the several versions of my name and it found them all. It’s also free and doesn’t involve anything to download.
Talent For Hire
Rusty Miller, Freelance Photojournalist -- Yep, a little self-promotion here to help pay for the blog. Take a look at the services offered menu on my writer-for-hire homepage and samples of my digital lens work on my photography website. If you see something you like, email me and we’ll get together on it.
Are you a travel editor looking for colour shots of Seattle? Are you an art dealer looking for new work to carry on consignment? You might enjoy checking out a gallery of my work for sale.
COMING ATTRACTIONS
In the weeks to come, we’re going to create ~ in addition to Northstar Recommends ~ a Northstar General Store in which you, the readers, will have an opportunity to market your own goods and services and, as well, to shop here. We’re going to get real creative with this and whenever possible, we’ll have tried what we’re carrying on the shelves, as it were. We’ll be taking a straight ten percent for this, via Paypal. We’ll also consider barter and trade.
If you’ve got any recommendations of your own and are interested in the General Store, email me and we’ll talk.
1 comment:
LOL at the Great Shorts Controversy of 2009. I think we should all be proud as a nation that we came together on this matter of vital importance. ;)
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