Photo by Randy L. Rasmussen – The Portland OregonianLydia Doleman at work constructing one of her straw houses in Portland, Oregon
Hi again and yep, from the ramparts of the Bastion on the Puget Sound, it’s been another interesting week. Our hearts certainly go out to the survivors of the tsunami which struck the Samoan Islands on Tuesday. Apparently caused by a big undersea earthquake (8.0), it struck so fast there was virtually no warning and all the coastal and lowland areas were literally wiped out by the big waves. As of this writing, the death toll stands at 99. The Samoan Islands have a population of 277,000, about a quarter of it in the American portion. President Obama has declared it a disaster area and Australia and New Zealand have already dispatched aid and assistance.
We note with personal sadness the passing of Mary Travers, of the American folk group Peter, Paul and Mary. During the Sixties and Seventies, hers was a voice which gave so many of us a reason to carry on. Though best remembered for songs like Leavin’ on a Jet Plane and Puff the Magic Dragon, the one for which I am most grateful to her for is a ballad of Irish rebellion entitled “The Risin’ of the Moon.” So thank you for that one too, Mary, and yes, Lass, your grandchildren are carrying on.
Well, the existence of water on the moon has now been confirmed, thanks to NASA’s Moon Mineralogy Mapper and the Indian rocket and launch system which got it there. Results of the mission suggest that a sustainable manned moon colony could be a reality within the next two decades. It’ll be kind of interesting taking a romantic evening walk in 2029, gazing up at a beautiful full moon and realizing that there are other couples up there, strolling among the hydroponics and gazing at a beautiful full earth. For more on a very successful international space venture, please go here and here.
Well, the first clown to ever leave earth is currently enroute to the International Space Station aboard a Russia Soyuz to entertain the troops as it were. I’m hoping this Merry Andrew is good because if he’s not, he could also be an international embarrassment for Canada. But wealth has its privileges and this billionaire reportedly paid $34-million for the chance to audition. A long shot, perhaps, but our money’s riding with him because his name is Guy Laliberte and he’s the founder of Cirque du Soleil.
Well, for this next one, there has to be a totally new category somewhere between “Jeez, Ya Think?” and “Why am I not incredibly surprised?” Apparently spanking children reduces their IQ points, according to a study released by the International Conference on Violence, Abuse and Trauma in San Diego last month. The findings contend that physical abuse causes post traumatic stress in children and that this is linked to decreased intelligence. I’m just surprised it took scientific research to prove that hitting a kid isn’t good for that kid. So now we can add that to a list of reasons why a compassionate and rational creature does not cause injury or ham to those smaller and weaker than itself. Maybe it’s just me but I don’t hit kids because it’s not cool. I don’t need any other reason than that.
For this week’s critter story, we go to the bottom of the world. Yep, Oz is in the news again. An early morning surfer spotted a young orca trapped in a shark net off a Gold Coast beach, which is in Queensland, on Australia’s east coast, south of Brisbane. The surfer, who also happened to be captain of the Miami Beach (Queensland, Australia) Surf Life Saving Club, contacted the Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries, whose rescue team arrived on the scene 40 minutes later. Before a crowd of 250 concerned, spectators, rescue was affected without injury to the juvenile orca. The entire operation took just a little under four hours. For more information and a video on this splendid animal rescue, please go here.
In the midst of all this debate on national health care, I found it interesting that in a recent study released by the not-for-profit research and performance evaluation Conference Board of Canada ranked the Maple Leaf tenth on a list of 16 countries for health care and the U.S., last. The study measured:
Life expectancy
Mortality due to diabetes
Self-reported health status
Mortality due to musculoskeletal system diseases
Premature mortality
Mortality due to mental disorders
Mortality due to cancer
Infant mortality
Mortality due to circulatory diseases
Mortality due to medical misadventures
Mortality due to respiratory diseases
I found this study absolutely fascinating. It offers comparisons in all categories, is well illustrated and communicates in language amazingly free from political bias and industry rhetoric. Here’s how the 16 nations ranked and the grade the Conference Board game them.
Japan, Switzerland, Italy and Norway received As. Canada, Sweden, France, Finland, Germany and Australia got Bs and the Netherlands, Austria and Ireland, Cs. Denmark and the United Kingdom joined the U.S. at the bottom of the dumpster with a grade of D. For more information, please go here.
And finally, I really got a kick out of this one. Remember that fairytale we heard as kids about the three little pigs and the big bad wolf? I think the morals of that one were build with bricks and don’t antagonize something that already wants to make a sandwich out of you. Well, in Oregon, they’re making houses out of straw and nobody’s huffing and puffing them down.
Contractor Lydia Doleman, owner of Flying Hammer Productions, admits that the technology isn’t new but in fact originated in Nebraska, where trees are at a premium. She built her first such home in Colorado, at the age of 20. Now, she’s making them work in the soggy Northwest, where she has the endorsement of the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance and the support of Portland’s Bureau of Planning and Sustainability. For more about this extraordinary woman and the impact her straw houses are having on the Northwest, please go here.
Well, that’s it for this week. Thanks again for the ear. Take care, stay well and God Bless.
Rusty
We note with personal sadness the passing of Mary Travers, of the American folk group Peter, Paul and Mary. During the Sixties and Seventies, hers was a voice which gave so many of us a reason to carry on. Though best remembered for songs like Leavin’ on a Jet Plane and Puff the Magic Dragon, the one for which I am most grateful to her for is a ballad of Irish rebellion entitled “The Risin’ of the Moon.” So thank you for that one too, Mary, and yes, Lass, your grandchildren are carrying on.
Well, the existence of water on the moon has now been confirmed, thanks to NASA’s Moon Mineralogy Mapper and the Indian rocket and launch system which got it there. Results of the mission suggest that a sustainable manned moon colony could be a reality within the next two decades. It’ll be kind of interesting taking a romantic evening walk in 2029, gazing up at a beautiful full moon and realizing that there are other couples up there, strolling among the hydroponics and gazing at a beautiful full earth. For more on a very successful international space venture, please go here and here.
Well, the first clown to ever leave earth is currently enroute to the International Space Station aboard a Russia Soyuz to entertain the troops as it were. I’m hoping this Merry Andrew is good because if he’s not, he could also be an international embarrassment for Canada. But wealth has its privileges and this billionaire reportedly paid $34-million for the chance to audition. A long shot, perhaps, but our money’s riding with him because his name is Guy Laliberte and he’s the founder of Cirque du Soleil.
Well, for this next one, there has to be a totally new category somewhere between “Jeez, Ya Think?” and “Why am I not incredibly surprised?” Apparently spanking children reduces their IQ points, according to a study released by the International Conference on Violence, Abuse and Trauma in San Diego last month. The findings contend that physical abuse causes post traumatic stress in children and that this is linked to decreased intelligence. I’m just surprised it took scientific research to prove that hitting a kid isn’t good for that kid. So now we can add that to a list of reasons why a compassionate and rational creature does not cause injury or ham to those smaller and weaker than itself. Maybe it’s just me but I don’t hit kids because it’s not cool. I don’t need any other reason than that.
For this week’s critter story, we go to the bottom of the world. Yep, Oz is in the news again. An early morning surfer spotted a young orca trapped in a shark net off a Gold Coast beach, which is in Queensland, on Australia’s east coast, south of Brisbane. The surfer, who also happened to be captain of the Miami Beach (Queensland, Australia) Surf Life Saving Club, contacted the Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries, whose rescue team arrived on the scene 40 minutes later. Before a crowd of 250 concerned, spectators, rescue was affected without injury to the juvenile orca. The entire operation took just a little under four hours. For more information and a video on this splendid animal rescue, please go here.
In the midst of all this debate on national health care, I found it interesting that in a recent study released by the not-for-profit research and performance evaluation Conference Board of Canada ranked the Maple Leaf tenth on a list of 16 countries for health care and the U.S., last. The study measured:
Life expectancy
Mortality due to diabetes
Self-reported health status
Mortality due to musculoskeletal system diseases
Premature mortality
Mortality due to mental disorders
Mortality due to cancer
Infant mortality
Mortality due to circulatory diseases
Mortality due to medical misadventures
Mortality due to respiratory diseases
I found this study absolutely fascinating. It offers comparisons in all categories, is well illustrated and communicates in language amazingly free from political bias and industry rhetoric. Here’s how the 16 nations ranked and the grade the Conference Board game them.
Japan, Switzerland, Italy and Norway received As. Canada, Sweden, France, Finland, Germany and Australia got Bs and the Netherlands, Austria and Ireland, Cs. Denmark and the United Kingdom joined the U.S. at the bottom of the dumpster with a grade of D. For more information, please go here.
And finally, I really got a kick out of this one. Remember that fairytale we heard as kids about the three little pigs and the big bad wolf? I think the morals of that one were build with bricks and don’t antagonize something that already wants to make a sandwich out of you. Well, in Oregon, they’re making houses out of straw and nobody’s huffing and puffing them down.
Contractor Lydia Doleman, owner of Flying Hammer Productions, admits that the technology isn’t new but in fact originated in Nebraska, where trees are at a premium. She built her first such home in Colorado, at the age of 20. Now, she’s making them work in the soggy Northwest, where she has the endorsement of the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance and the support of Portland’s Bureau of Planning and Sustainability. For more about this extraordinary woman and the impact her straw houses are having on the Northwest, please go here.
Well, that’s it for this week. Thanks again for the ear. Take care, stay well and God Bless.
Rusty
NORTHSTAR RECOMMENDS
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.
Ever had trouble getting behind eating a lot of fruits and vegetables despite how good they are for you? Ever had trouble selling that one to your kids and grandkids? Ever been totally sold on the idea then gone to the market and been totally tasered by the price of good health in some places? If your answer is yes to any or all of the above, you really need to check this site out. Fruits and veggies: more matters.
Online People Finders
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.
Know Thy Elected Officials - Just type in your zip code and this site will supply you with the names and contact information for your legislators from the state level up. This is a two click site with a host of other relevant features.
Media
BBC – Best source for international news
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.
TALENT FOR HIRE
Rusty Miller, Freelance Photojournalist – Whether it’s a one time press release, book or product review, difficult business correspondence, resume or classified ad composition you need, take a look at the services offered menu on my writer-for-hire homepage and we’ll get together on it.
Are you a travel editor looking for color shots of Seattle? Are you an art dealer looking for new work to carry on consignment? Check out galleries of my work here and here.
Know Thy Elected Officials - Just type in your zip code and this site will supply you with the names and contact information for your legislators from the state level up. This is a two click site with a host of other relevant features.
Media
BBC – Best source for international news
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.
TALENT FOR HIRE
Rusty Miller, Freelance Photojournalist – Whether it’s a one time press release, book or product review, difficult business correspondence, resume or classified ad composition you need, take a look at the services offered menu on my writer-for-hire homepage and we’ll get together on it.
Are you a travel editor looking for color shots of Seattle? Are you an art dealer looking for new work to carry on consignment? Check out galleries of my work here and here.
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