What a tornado can look likeStock photo
Hi again from the ramparts of the Bastion on the Puget. Our hearts go out to those who lost family and friends in the tornados which rampaged through parts of the South Saturday, leaving at least 12 dead, scores injured and hundreds of others homeless. One official described it as the worst natural disaster to hit the region in decades and another likened it to the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina.
The stories of heroism, survival, miracles and tragedy certainly of this one certainly rival those which came out of New Orleans. They attest both to the destructive fury of the tornados and to the incredible capacity our species has for survival.
For excellent video coverage:
Related Links:
Birth of a Tornado: What Causes Them
Mississippi Assessing Damage By Tornado
Survivor Tales from Storms That Killed 12
We also continue to be both saddened and disheartened that crude oil continues to flow from a pipeline five thousand feet into the Gulf of Mexico.
To me, this disaster has two things in common with the explosion at the Upper Branch mine in West Virginia. Working men died trying to support families, going to into places human beings don’t naturally belong, to produce a fuel source that isn’t healthy for life on any portion of this planet.
And because of that, a part of the United States that’s already been slammed by tornados next gets to deal with crude oil washing ashore along their Mexican Gulf course or, the Coast Guard decides to try to burn it off, thick dense smoke in their skies for days.
It’s another disaster but unlike the first one ~ the raging winds ~ this one never needed to happen and it did, ultimately, because a lot of us, as individuals, had unrealistic expectations of the Great American Dream. And it happened because we were greedy.
As Consumer Americans, we were willing to pay the human cost and so were those who worked in the industry. What makes this so totally unacceptable to me is that safer and healthier sources of energy have been there far longer that the stuff we dig or suck from the planet. Solar, low yield hydro, wind, methane, tidal, they’ve all been here for a very, very long time.
To me, any human being who dies for family has not done so for nothing. Coal miners, steel mill workers, commercial fishermen, those who man the oil rigs and work in the refineries, those who go into the woods to cut the timber and those who make it into boards, they’re all doing it for the best of reasons.
They’re also doing it for the communities in which they live and their states, provinces and districts, their regions and nations, and of course for their dreams of a better world. I can conceive of no nobler a way to live and sometimes, no more tragic and genocidal a way to die. So I’ve asked myself and I put it to you.
Do we need oil and coal so much that we’re willing to let miners in Appalachia and wildcatters in the Mexican Gulf die for it? Do we so need oil and coal so much that we’re willing to continue to pollute our air, our water and our land with it, and to dramatically cut short both the quality of life and the span of it for all those exposed to its toxic effects? Do we need fossil fuel enough to go to war for it and to protect, however inhumane, the despotic rulers of some of the nations which provide it to us?
We talk about honoring people who die for the Great American Dream. All the remembrances don’t bring back a human being and they certainly do not replace one. And funerals and wakes do absolutely nothing to mitigate the fear these laborers live with 24/7, realizing that their work place could so easily bury them alive or incinerate them.
We owe these people far more than honor. We owe them a future and in this case, a green one.
Related Links:
Regulators Approve First Offshore Wind Farm in U.S.
When a man who gets stabbed protecting a woman he’s never met is allowed to bleed to death on a sidewalk in daylight in one of the largest cities in the world, it is clearly time to reassess the capacity of members of our species to not so much as dial 911 on a cell phone.
It happened last week in New York City’s Queens Borough and was all caught by (we assume but cannot verify, unmanned) surveillance cameras. This one made The Today Show and local television and radio show comment lines and email in baskets were flooded with outraged and angry Gotham City citizens who simply could not believe something like this could happen in their community in this day and age.
Apparently the entire nation and much of the International Community feels the same way. And we join them. This may have been common behavior in New York City prior to 9/11 but it has not been since. An act of war which rocked a nation naturally hit Ground Zero the hardest and from The Bronx to Staten Island, residents of the five boroughs united behind a stronger, kinder and move livable community.
The Good Samaritan’s name is Hugo Tale-Yax. He was born in Guatemala and his wake was held yesterday, Wednesday, April 27, 2010, at Funeraria Le Fey, in Brooklyn.
Related Links
Good Samaritan bleeds to death while pedestrians walk by
CROSSING OVER
Heaven is richer for her arrival and our world has been made a better place because of the things black journalist, activist, editor and columnist Evelyn Cunningham did with her time among us.
Evelyn, to me, was another role model because her courage, her dedication, her passion for freedom and her faith that our species would one day grow to deserve the best of its dreams was not a gender thing or a racial thing. It was a human being thing and it transcended any label applied to her and her life during the 94 years she moved so gracefully and so resolutely among us.
For more on this remarkable human being:
GOOD NEWS
In another demonstration that green is the way to go, we’re pleased to report that another Seattle resident has solarized his home and is now off the electric power grid. Yep, even in allegedly soggy Seattle, he anticipates that the $40,000 it cost him to do this will be paid back in ten years. We strongly suspect that as more people emulate his example and designers, engineers and manufacturers compete for the trade, costs will drop, systems will become more efficient and all construction in the future will be cheaper to build, buy, insulate and energize. For more on this one:
Well, if you’re looking for work, North Dakota is booming. But you better go there in an RV, a camper pickup, a station wagon, an SUV or towing a trailer because housing, from homes to hotels and motels to mobile home parks and including boarding house rooms, is as scarce as employment is plentiful. Hundreds are doing it though and what makes that cool to me is that it’s an accepted lifestyle and support networks are growing to assist single individuals and families making the transition from covered wagon to soddie or log cabin, as it were. Yep, for more on this one:
Well, this one doesn’t come as any surprise. People who don’t feel good about themselves are often abusive to others, according to Judi Hopson and Emma Hopson, registered nurses and authors of a stress management book for paramedics, firefighters and police entitled "Burnout To Balance: EMS Stress."
As they contend, low self-esteem is on the increase during these tough times. Clerics, family counselors, law enforcement and the medical community across America are reporting a corresponding rise in domestic violence, a trend also mirrored in a growing volume of incidents of road rage, and verbal and physical assaults in general.
The authors offer practical, constructive and proven advice on how potentially explosive situations can most often be defused. Yes, for more on this:
We were also gratified that Pope Benedict XVI earlier this month said that while he recognized that the Church was under attack, he felt that those who had, indeed, sinned needed to repent and recognize their mistakes.
It was not considered nearly enough by many of those who have been victimized. A spokesman for the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, Mark Serrano, said, “When the pope can't bring himself to utter the words 'pedophile priest' or 'child sex crimes' or 'cover-ups' or 'complicit bishops,' it's hard to have faith that he is able to honestly and effectively deal with this growing crisis."
As far as The Northstar Journal is concerned, however, this is a start in the right direction. So, we feel, is the resignation of Belgium’s longest-serving bishop, Father Roger Vangheluwe. who admitted this month that he abused “a boy in my close entourage.”
Vangheluwe joins a growing number of other top Catholic clerics who are removing themselves from positions in the Church, including Bishop Walter Mixa, one of Germany’s most prominent and outspoken conservative clerics, and James Moriarty of Kildare and Leighlin, Ireland.
Scant comfort to the victims and to those others whose faith in those chosen to care for their spiritual lives has been so profoundly shaken, but this has been covered up for centuries. It very likely could have remained that way and perhaps the Vatican could have dealt with it internally.
It didn’t come down that way but thanks to those initial handful with the integrity to seek an end to this most corrosive of human abuses, responsibility is being assumed. It’s a process that has begun and considering the vehemence with which it is being pursued by those so basely violated, I’d predict it’s not going to end for some while.
I hope, however, that it does not destroy the Catholic Church, for that would be the most magnificent and unjustifiable of hyprocrisies. No other species on Earth, save humankind, condones the abuse of its young.
In my mind, then, this is not a religious or spiritual issue. Child abusers respect no institutions, no faiths and certainly no philosophies. And they are found under every flag on the planet.
This is about how much each and every one of us cares not just about the youngsters in our own lives, but about all the world’s children. Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t see the two as being mutually exclusive. It’s been my experience that to care about one is, in fact, to care about all.
If the US Food and Drug Administration approves it, some men suffering from advanced prostrated cancer may live a lot longer. According to Seattle Times science reporter Sandi Doughton:
“The treatment's benefits are modest. But as the first product of its type to emerge from decades of often-frustrating research, Provenge could help open doors for immune-based therapies against a range of cancers.”
Yes, for more on this one:
COOL STUFF WE FOUND ON THE NET AT A GOOD PRICE (Free is a good price, right?)
I’m not a comic book junkie but I know some. They’re always searching the Net for the old, the rare, the unusual and the archived. Here’s a software download which will let them view whatever they find, regardless the format. We had a lot of fun with this one. Here’s it’s review:
Editorial Review of ComicRack
The stories of heroism, survival, miracles and tragedy certainly of this one certainly rival those which came out of New Orleans. They attest both to the destructive fury of the tornados and to the incredible capacity our species has for survival.
For excellent video coverage:
Related Links:
Birth of a Tornado: What Causes Them
Mississippi Assessing Damage By Tornado
Survivor Tales from Storms That Killed 12
We also continue to be both saddened and disheartened that crude oil continues to flow from a pipeline five thousand feet into the Gulf of Mexico.
To me, this disaster has two things in common with the explosion at the Upper Branch mine in West Virginia. Working men died trying to support families, going to into places human beings don’t naturally belong, to produce a fuel source that isn’t healthy for life on any portion of this planet.
And because of that, a part of the United States that’s already been slammed by tornados next gets to deal with crude oil washing ashore along their Mexican Gulf course or, the Coast Guard decides to try to burn it off, thick dense smoke in their skies for days.
It’s another disaster but unlike the first one ~ the raging winds ~ this one never needed to happen and it did, ultimately, because a lot of us, as individuals, had unrealistic expectations of the Great American Dream. And it happened because we were greedy.
As Consumer Americans, we were willing to pay the human cost and so were those who worked in the industry. What makes this so totally unacceptable to me is that safer and healthier sources of energy have been there far longer that the stuff we dig or suck from the planet. Solar, low yield hydro, wind, methane, tidal, they’ve all been here for a very, very long time.
To me, any human being who dies for family has not done so for nothing. Coal miners, steel mill workers, commercial fishermen, those who man the oil rigs and work in the refineries, those who go into the woods to cut the timber and those who make it into boards, they’re all doing it for the best of reasons.
They’re also doing it for the communities in which they live and their states, provinces and districts, their regions and nations, and of course for their dreams of a better world. I can conceive of no nobler a way to live and sometimes, no more tragic and genocidal a way to die. So I’ve asked myself and I put it to you.
Do we need oil and coal so much that we’re willing to let miners in Appalachia and wildcatters in the Mexican Gulf die for it? Do we so need oil and coal so much that we’re willing to continue to pollute our air, our water and our land with it, and to dramatically cut short both the quality of life and the span of it for all those exposed to its toxic effects? Do we need fossil fuel enough to go to war for it and to protect, however inhumane, the despotic rulers of some of the nations which provide it to us?
We talk about honoring people who die for the Great American Dream. All the remembrances don’t bring back a human being and they certainly do not replace one. And funerals and wakes do absolutely nothing to mitigate the fear these laborers live with 24/7, realizing that their work place could so easily bury them alive or incinerate them.
We owe these people far more than honor. We owe them a future and in this case, a green one.
Related Links:
Regulators Approve First Offshore Wind Farm in U.S.
When a man who gets stabbed protecting a woman he’s never met is allowed to bleed to death on a sidewalk in daylight in one of the largest cities in the world, it is clearly time to reassess the capacity of members of our species to not so much as dial 911 on a cell phone.
It happened last week in New York City’s Queens Borough and was all caught by (we assume but cannot verify, unmanned) surveillance cameras. This one made The Today Show and local television and radio show comment lines and email in baskets were flooded with outraged and angry Gotham City citizens who simply could not believe something like this could happen in their community in this day and age.
Apparently the entire nation and much of the International Community feels the same way. And we join them. This may have been common behavior in New York City prior to 9/11 but it has not been since. An act of war which rocked a nation naturally hit Ground Zero the hardest and from The Bronx to Staten Island, residents of the five boroughs united behind a stronger, kinder and move livable community.
The Good Samaritan’s name is Hugo Tale-Yax. He was born in Guatemala and his wake was held yesterday, Wednesday, April 27, 2010, at Funeraria Le Fey, in Brooklyn.
Related Links
Good Samaritan bleeds to death while pedestrians walk by
CROSSING OVER
Heaven is richer for her arrival and our world has been made a better place because of the things black journalist, activist, editor and columnist Evelyn Cunningham did with her time among us.
Evelyn, to me, was another role model because her courage, her dedication, her passion for freedom and her faith that our species would one day grow to deserve the best of its dreams was not a gender thing or a racial thing. It was a human being thing and it transcended any label applied to her and her life during the 94 years she moved so gracefully and so resolutely among us.
For more on this remarkable human being:
GOOD NEWS
In another demonstration that green is the way to go, we’re pleased to report that another Seattle resident has solarized his home and is now off the electric power grid. Yep, even in allegedly soggy Seattle, he anticipates that the $40,000 it cost him to do this will be paid back in ten years. We strongly suspect that as more people emulate his example and designers, engineers and manufacturers compete for the trade, costs will drop, systems will become more efficient and all construction in the future will be cheaper to build, buy, insulate and energize. For more on this one:
Well, if you’re looking for work, North Dakota is booming. But you better go there in an RV, a camper pickup, a station wagon, an SUV or towing a trailer because housing, from homes to hotels and motels to mobile home parks and including boarding house rooms, is as scarce as employment is plentiful. Hundreds are doing it though and what makes that cool to me is that it’s an accepted lifestyle and support networks are growing to assist single individuals and families making the transition from covered wagon to soddie or log cabin, as it were. Yep, for more on this one:
Well, this one doesn’t come as any surprise. People who don’t feel good about themselves are often abusive to others, according to Judi Hopson and Emma Hopson, registered nurses and authors of a stress management book for paramedics, firefighters and police entitled "Burnout To Balance: EMS Stress."
As they contend, low self-esteem is on the increase during these tough times. Clerics, family counselors, law enforcement and the medical community across America are reporting a corresponding rise in domestic violence, a trend also mirrored in a growing volume of incidents of road rage, and verbal and physical assaults in general.
The authors offer practical, constructive and proven advice on how potentially explosive situations can most often be defused. Yes, for more on this:
We were also gratified that Pope Benedict XVI earlier this month said that while he recognized that the Church was under attack, he felt that those who had, indeed, sinned needed to repent and recognize their mistakes.
It was not considered nearly enough by many of those who have been victimized. A spokesman for the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, Mark Serrano, said, “When the pope can't bring himself to utter the words 'pedophile priest' or 'child sex crimes' or 'cover-ups' or 'complicit bishops,' it's hard to have faith that he is able to honestly and effectively deal with this growing crisis."
As far as The Northstar Journal is concerned, however, this is a start in the right direction. So, we feel, is the resignation of Belgium’s longest-serving bishop, Father Roger Vangheluwe. who admitted this month that he abused “a boy in my close entourage.”
Vangheluwe joins a growing number of other top Catholic clerics who are removing themselves from positions in the Church, including Bishop Walter Mixa, one of Germany’s most prominent and outspoken conservative clerics, and James Moriarty of Kildare and Leighlin, Ireland.
Scant comfort to the victims and to those others whose faith in those chosen to care for their spiritual lives has been so profoundly shaken, but this has been covered up for centuries. It very likely could have remained that way and perhaps the Vatican could have dealt with it internally.
It didn’t come down that way but thanks to those initial handful with the integrity to seek an end to this most corrosive of human abuses, responsibility is being assumed. It’s a process that has begun and considering the vehemence with which it is being pursued by those so basely violated, I’d predict it’s not going to end for some while.
I hope, however, that it does not destroy the Catholic Church, for that would be the most magnificent and unjustifiable of hyprocrisies. No other species on Earth, save humankind, condones the abuse of its young.
In my mind, then, this is not a religious or spiritual issue. Child abusers respect no institutions, no faiths and certainly no philosophies. And they are found under every flag on the planet.
This is about how much each and every one of us cares not just about the youngsters in our own lives, but about all the world’s children. Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t see the two as being mutually exclusive. It’s been my experience that to care about one is, in fact, to care about all.
If the US Food and Drug Administration approves it, some men suffering from advanced prostrated cancer may live a lot longer. According to Seattle Times science reporter Sandi Doughton:
“The treatment's benefits are modest. But as the first product of its type to emerge from decades of often-frustrating research, Provenge could help open doors for immune-based therapies against a range of cancers.”
Yes, for more on this one:
COOL STUFF WE FOUND ON THE NET AT A GOOD PRICE (Free is a good price, right?)
I’m not a comic book junkie but I know some. They’re always searching the Net for the old, the rare, the unusual and the archived. Here’s a software download which will let them view whatever they find, regardless the format. We had a lot of fun with this one. Here’s it’s review:
Editorial Review of ComicRack
ComicRack is a powerful and free program which lets you read downloaded comics in many formats, including the popular .CBR and .CBZ formats. The odds are good that if you recognize those file types, you will want this program.
We all know Rule 34 of the Internet, but there's another rule, not named or numbered as far as I know: "If you discover you need a program to do something, odds are, someone's written it." So it is with Comic Rack. I recently discovered a site which hosts legal downloads of out-of-copyright Golden Age comics, and after grabbing a few, I realized I needed a better way to read and organize my suddenly growing collection. Thus, I discovered ComicRack.
ComicRack aspires to be "iTunes for your comics," and it shares some features with that program. It's both an organizer and a viewer, letting you create libraries and filtered lists of your comics, as well as displaying them for viewing, with many choices as to page layout and display features, including a right-to-left "manga mode", page rotation, and much more. Indeed, "And much more..." is sort of the catch phrase of Comic Rack.
ComicRack is not just feature-rich, it's feature-Bill-Gates-rich. The number of options is incredible. Just to pick one example, on the "Pages" tab, you can set the type of each page to any of 11 categories, such as "Front Cover," "Story," or "Advertising," then filter the pages menu to just show particular categories. There's always something new to discover as you dig through the menus and dialog boxes. You'll need to dig, too, which brings us to the downsides of the program.
A labor of love and a one-man show, ComicRack is supported by an enthusiastic community. Any imaginable feature, and a few I never thought of, is crammed in. However, as with many such programs, enthusiasm for coding doesn't translate into enthusiasm for the tedious work of documenting, and the online wiki which serves as the manual is painfully sparse. It's a cardinal rule of interface design that the user should never be surprised, but ComicRack is full of surprises.
Panes and lists appear and disappear almost randomly, and while you can work out the rules and the options which control them with a little effort, it can take a while to get to the point where you can load and read your comics without finding some aspect of the interface doing something you don't expect.
ComicRack is 100% free software, though, and that forgives many sins. Donations are encouraged but not required. ComicRack is regularly updated and supported, with an active community. I strongly recommend checking it out if you download comics to read on your computer. And if you're looking for a source of legal comics to download, check out GoldenAgeComics.co.uk.
Note: This program is donationware. It is free to try, but the author accepts and encourages donations towards further development.
--Ian Harac
For more information and to download:
SURVIVING HARD TIMES
One of the ways that both single people and families are not only surviving hard times but getting ahead in them is by combining households under one roof. It’s not a new idea. But the difference now seems to be that instead of just picking a roommate on compatibility and a credit check, people are coming together to collectively meet their individual costs of living.
A quick example of this is the woman nurse with kids and the unemployed machinist who loves kids and is also real good at fixing things like cars, bicycles, home appliances. In the intentional households of the 21st Century, the machinist would likely be providing at home daycare and auto/appliance repair as his portion of the rent, the utilities and groceries, with him still making his own spending money.
There are lots of variations on the theme but one thing they all have in common is that they provide an emotional support base and from a health perspective, that is absolutely necessary. Stress is the common enemy so these households work out ways to eliminate as much of it as they can. That frees them up for the kind of creative thinking that’s been working for families, neighborhoods and communities for several thousand years that we know of and probably a lot longer than that.
The Tyee writer Chis Cannon’s article entitled “Save the Planet, Share a Roof: Collective living is greener, saves money and might just expand your world” is a beautiful description of this lifestyle alternative. Chris uses images of nature and home, from one coast of North America to the other, and renders the human beings involved in ways impossible not to identify with and like. Yep, for this one, then:
HEALTH NEWS
This has got to come as good news to those impacted by AIDS. An experimental vaccine for HIV tested in Thailand last September protected one out of three of those people who participated in the study. The medical community is more optimistic than ever than this disease could be eliminated world-wide. To me, it’s also a real good example of what dedication, teamwork and appropriate funding can accomplish. For more on this one:
Thank you, I think, to the reader who sent me this link to a site with some cool exercises, diet tips, etc. to ward off Alzheimers. I’m not sure what, if any, personal implications to draw from this one but I had a good time with the puzzles and games and apparently I’m eating the right foods. So yep, to check it out:
THE CAPITOL HILL BEAT
We caught part of Goldman Sachs v. The United States Senate hearings this week and were as appalled, outraged and disgusted as those conducting these proceedings seemed to be. Northstar does not invest in stocks, bonds or securities but we see no reason why the rules should be any different than they are for antiques, art, jewelry, land, patents, etc.
I certainly would not want those whose advice I sought making their money from a competing investment source. It’s apparently not illegal and since no one I watched from Goldman Sachs seemed to have a problem with the ethics or the morality of it, I’m staying clear of those kinds of financial speculations until Congress legislates a Wall Street conscience.
I’m also glad I don’t have any friends in the investment world. After those hearings, I doubt I would now. For an excellent analysis of this:
CRITTER STUFF
I do so love it when Canadians go proactive over protecting one of the humbler of all creatures great and small. And I appreciate it even more when ~ with all due respect ~ neither Victoria (in this case) nor Ottawa was consulted or buttonholed for tax dollars.
For all the suspicions, fears (apparently) or convictions that Canada is or intends to become socialistic, America’s northern neighbor knows what that actually means and that it does not always require a bureaucracy and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to protect even something as small as the Western Painted Turtle. Sometimes it just takes regular folks getting together behind an inter-species act of social responsibility and good will.
Yep, for more on this one, by all means:
This second one comes to us out of Alaska and I loved it because the passion I have for cats is also shared with dogs and I have been privileged to share my life with several fine examples of the canine species.
One of my favorite all-time movies, Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey, is about these two dogs and a cat who get left behind in a move and paw it over some real bad mountains to rejoin their human family. I’m also really into Jack London, as well and this one, because of its far north setting, is more like what he wrote.
This is about Buddy, a German shepherd, and how he saved the home of his family from being burned to the frozen ground. Even the reporter who covered this one compared it to American movies and television programs like Lassie and Rin Tin Tin. There’s also a short video from the dashboard camera of the rig of the Alaska State Police trooper who responded to a neighbor’s call but who got lost when the GPS system in his patrol car failed. Buddy found him and led him to the scene.
I’m a firm believer that all good dogs go to Heaven, albeit not the same one that cats do. And if that’s true, that Alaska native and good and faithful servant is going to be resting his front paws on the skirts of the robe of the Creator of Us All. Way to go Buddy.
Yep, for more on this one:
YOU GUYS THINK I MAKE THIS STUFF UP
Well, it’s not that this didn’t happen. It’s just that it didn’t happen exactly as my media peers reported it. I happen to have inside sources, furry ones. My Maine coon cat Sasha’s best friend is a raccoon named Ralph. Ralph knows people and, to paraphrase the venerable Curt Vonnegut, so it goes.
This is about that ferret who decided it needed to get out of town but didn’t have passenger fare. So it boxed itself up and ~ we suspect with the help of friends ~ managed to get itself on a plane and go as air freight. Its attempt to defraud the commercial aviation industry was discovered, however, and to some chagrin to all concerned. In one of the finest examples of inter-species cooperation we’ve seen all week, a deal was worked out.
The ferret promised both not to try it again and to discourage his friends from engaging in such illegal, if not extremely embarrassing practices. The ferret got a new home with a baggage handler and airline officials decided not to press charges. For the video on this one:
Well, that’s it for now. Before you leave though, you might want to check out Northstar Recommends. We’ve added (and will continue to do so) cool things we find. And if you’re in a shopping mood, we invite you to peruse our amazon.com ads and our reader-generated Northstar General Store.
We’re also opening up the Northstar Journal for weekly sponsors. It’s a way of helping to support this modest enterprise and get yourself, your business, organization or nonprofit noticed by email subscribers in seven countries. If you’re interested, email me for details and we’ll put something together.
Take care, stay well, thanks again for the ear and we’ll see you next week. Hang tough, gang. We’re going to make it and come out better for the learning, then, eh?
Rusty
I do so love it when Canadians go proactive over protecting one of the humbler of all creatures great and small. And I appreciate it even more when ~ with all due respect ~ neither Victoria (in this case) nor Ottawa was consulted or buttonholed for tax dollars.
For all the suspicions, fears (apparently) or convictions that Canada is or intends to become socialistic, America’s northern neighbor knows what that actually means and that it does not always require a bureaucracy and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to protect even something as small as the Western Painted Turtle. Sometimes it just takes regular folks getting together behind an inter-species act of social responsibility and good will.
Yep, for more on this one, by all means:
This second one comes to us out of Alaska and I loved it because the passion I have for cats is also shared with dogs and I have been privileged to share my life with several fine examples of the canine species.
One of my favorite all-time movies, Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey, is about these two dogs and a cat who get left behind in a move and paw it over some real bad mountains to rejoin their human family. I’m also really into Jack London, as well and this one, because of its far north setting, is more like what he wrote.
This is about Buddy, a German shepherd, and how he saved the home of his family from being burned to the frozen ground. Even the reporter who covered this one compared it to American movies and television programs like Lassie and Rin Tin Tin. There’s also a short video from the dashboard camera of the rig of the Alaska State Police trooper who responded to a neighbor’s call but who got lost when the GPS system in his patrol car failed. Buddy found him and led him to the scene.
I’m a firm believer that all good dogs go to Heaven, albeit not the same one that cats do. And if that’s true, that Alaska native and good and faithful servant is going to be resting his front paws on the skirts of the robe of the Creator of Us All. Way to go Buddy.
Yep, for more on this one:
YOU GUYS THINK I MAKE THIS STUFF UP
Well, it’s not that this didn’t happen. It’s just that it didn’t happen exactly as my media peers reported it. I happen to have inside sources, furry ones. My Maine coon cat Sasha’s best friend is a raccoon named Ralph. Ralph knows people and, to paraphrase the venerable Curt Vonnegut, so it goes.
This is about that ferret who decided it needed to get out of town but didn’t have passenger fare. So it boxed itself up and ~ we suspect with the help of friends ~ managed to get itself on a plane and go as air freight. Its attempt to defraud the commercial aviation industry was discovered, however, and to some chagrin to all concerned. In one of the finest examples of inter-species cooperation we’ve seen all week, a deal was worked out.
The ferret promised both not to try it again and to discourage his friends from engaging in such illegal, if not extremely embarrassing practices. The ferret got a new home with a baggage handler and airline officials decided not to press charges. For the video on this one:
Well, that’s it for now. Before you leave though, you might want to check out Northstar Recommends. We’ve added (and will continue to do so) cool things we find. And if you’re in a shopping mood, we invite you to peruse our amazon.com ads and our reader-generated Northstar General Store.
We’re also opening up the Northstar Journal for weekly sponsors. It’s a way of helping to support this modest enterprise and get yourself, your business, organization or nonprofit noticed by email subscribers in seven countries. If you’re interested, email me for details and we’ll put something together.
Take care, stay well, thanks again for the ear and we’ll see you next week. Hang tough, gang. We’re going to make it and come out better for the learning, then, eh?
Rusty
NORTHSTAR RECOMMENDS
RESOURCES
Maker Culture: Taking Things Into Our Own Hands - For 12 weeks in the fall of 2009, 45 online journalism students at Ryerson University and the University of Western Ontario worked together to document the evolving Maker Culture community.
Maker Culture? That's coders, fabricators, foodies, artists, educators, activists, citizen and even scientists grabbing the Do-It-Yourself ethic with both hands and changing our world in the process.
These are people who aren't just making things, they're making a point of sharing what they've learned, what they've made, and why. Often, for free.
Makers are responding directly, locally to globalization, commercialization, copyright and central command and control.
This is the introduction to a fascinating series on how to become more self-reliant, live a lot more economically and enjoy the company of others doing the same. If you’re looking for ideas, inspiration and resources to get through hard times or just to simplify you life, we highly recommend this one.
PC World – This is the best source we’ve found yet for totally free, useful, reliable and secure (no viruses) downloads ranging from games through utilities and with a nice selection of screen savers, etc. What I particularly appreciate about it is how easy the site is to navigate. They also have a daily letter featuring two “daily downloads.”
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.
Stalking Resource Center division of the National Center for Victims of Crime – Internet harassment, stalking and abuse in general is now against the law. If you’re being victimized or if you know of someone who is, this is an excellent resource.
FUN STUFF
If you share my passion for American History, you’re going to love AmericanWest.com This is historical society stuff that is also extremely interesting to read. So yep, just in case you didn’t get it the first time, check it out here.
Houston At Night and other totally cool images are available at the Earth Observatory, along with an incredible array of other outer space images. This is one of NASA’s more engaging websites and it’s here, as well, that you can subscribe to their online newsletter. Whether you’re an aerospace/astronomy buff or simply enjoy stargazing, this is an excellent site.
Ever been told you look like someone famous? Ever not been told that but would like to have been? Find a photo of yourself, go to this site, MyHeritage.com, upload it and get a gallery of celebrities you resemble, to one degree or another. Yep, it’s a total waste of time and an unabashed indulgence of ego. Probably two reasons why I totally loved it, even though a couple of my own pix didn’t turn up any results. It’s fun to play with so enjoy.
If you’re into a real interesting and visual escape, we certainly recommend The Art In LA website. It’s a virtual art gallery created by a real gentle, occasionally obnoxious but totally good-hearted soul with standards as fine as those of any engineer I’ve ever met. It’s also a good place for healthy meditation. If you’re lucky, you might just run into the artist herself. Her name is Colleen and she’s a trip, trust me. Yep, she was born under the fourth flag on our masthead.
HEALTH
Ten foods that really do help prevent cancer.
Grub you libido will love.
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.
Ever get so stressed you feel like you’re really jammed up against it? Take a deep breath and check out you’re surroundings is the advice of Dr. Roberta Lee in her book The Superstress Solution. We have and what I’ve generally found is that the outside reflects the inside. If I’m real busy, jackets get tossed over chairs, used coffee cups appear magically on window ledges and desk top clutter takes on a total biosphere all its own. Perhaps not surprising, dealing with the outside can really help you relax. And although we don’t recommend you try this at home, if you wait long enough, it can be also be real good exercise. This is a mental health must so check it out here. We’re reading Dr. Lee’s book now and we bought it here.
Want to know how to live to be 100? Try this one.
Take this test to see how your memory compares with the average.
Click here for fun games to improve your memory.
There’s a new book out now which could make a dramatic difference in the way toward the way women experience the passing of years. Despite major industries involved ~ cosmetic, fitness, elective surgery, to name three ~ the idea that women become less attractive as they grow older has also very likely contributed to more anxiety, high blood pressure, depression, etc. than any other single factor in a woman’s life except cancer and childbearing.
We also suspect that it has probably cost men just as much, if not more, than it has cost women, even in a nation historically known for its tolerance of a double standard. The book is entitled Face It: What Women Really Feel as Their Looks Change. Read about it here and if you decide you’d like to purchase it online, you can buy it here. I especially recommend this to men. It’s time our gender took more responsibility for this.
RESOURCES
Maker Culture: Taking Things Into Our Own Hands - For 12 weeks in the fall of 2009, 45 online journalism students at Ryerson University and the University of Western Ontario worked together to document the evolving Maker Culture community.
Maker Culture? That's coders, fabricators, foodies, artists, educators, activists, citizen and even scientists grabbing the Do-It-Yourself ethic with both hands and changing our world in the process.
These are people who aren't just making things, they're making a point of sharing what they've learned, what they've made, and why. Often, for free.
Makers are responding directly, locally to globalization, commercialization, copyright and central command and control.
This is the introduction to a fascinating series on how to become more self-reliant, live a lot more economically and enjoy the company of others doing the same. If you’re looking for ideas, inspiration and resources to get through hard times or just to simplify you life, we highly recommend this one.
PC World – This is the best source we’ve found yet for totally free, useful, reliable and secure (no viruses) downloads ranging from games through utilities and with a nice selection of screen savers, etc. What I particularly appreciate about it is how easy the site is to navigate. They also have a daily letter featuring two “daily downloads.”
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.
Stalking Resource Center division of the National Center for Victims of Crime – Internet harassment, stalking and abuse in general is now against the law. If you’re being victimized or if you know of someone who is, this is an excellent resource.
FUN STUFF
If you share my passion for American History, you’re going to love AmericanWest.com This is historical society stuff that is also extremely interesting to read. So yep, just in case you didn’t get it the first time, check it out here.
Houston At Night and other totally cool images are available at the Earth Observatory, along with an incredible array of other outer space images. This is one of NASA’s more engaging websites and it’s here, as well, that you can subscribe to their online newsletter. Whether you’re an aerospace/astronomy buff or simply enjoy stargazing, this is an excellent site.
Ever been told you look like someone famous? Ever not been told that but would like to have been? Find a photo of yourself, go to this site, MyHeritage.com, upload it and get a gallery of celebrities you resemble, to one degree or another. Yep, it’s a total waste of time and an unabashed indulgence of ego. Probably two reasons why I totally loved it, even though a couple of my own pix didn’t turn up any results. It’s fun to play with so enjoy.
If you’re into a real interesting and visual escape, we certainly recommend The Art In LA website. It’s a virtual art gallery created by a real gentle, occasionally obnoxious but totally good-hearted soul with standards as fine as those of any engineer I’ve ever met. It’s also a good place for healthy meditation. If you’re lucky, you might just run into the artist herself. Her name is Colleen and she’s a trip, trust me. Yep, she was born under the fourth flag on our masthead.
HEALTH
Ten foods that really do help prevent cancer.
Grub you libido will love.
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.
Ever get so stressed you feel like you’re really jammed up against it? Take a deep breath and check out you’re surroundings is the advice of Dr. Roberta Lee in her book The Superstress Solution. We have and what I’ve generally found is that the outside reflects the inside. If I’m real busy, jackets get tossed over chairs, used coffee cups appear magically on window ledges and desk top clutter takes on a total biosphere all its own. Perhaps not surprising, dealing with the outside can really help you relax. And although we don’t recommend you try this at home, if you wait long enough, it can be also be real good exercise. This is a mental health must so check it out here. We’re reading Dr. Lee’s book now and we bought it here.
Want to know how to live to be 100? Try this one.
Take this test to see how your memory compares with the average.
Click here for fun games to improve your memory.
There’s a new book out now which could make a dramatic difference in the way toward the way women experience the passing of years. Despite major industries involved ~ cosmetic, fitness, elective surgery, to name three ~ the idea that women become less attractive as they grow older has also very likely contributed to more anxiety, high blood pressure, depression, etc. than any other single factor in a woman’s life except cancer and childbearing.
We also suspect that it has probably cost men just as much, if not more, than it has cost women, even in a nation historically known for its tolerance of a double standard. The book is entitled Face It: What Women Really Feel as Their Looks Change. Read about it here and if you decide you’d like to purchase it online, you can buy it here. I especially recommend this to men. It’s time our gender took more responsibility for this.
FOR YOUR SHOPPING CONVENIENCE
And for a truly unique shopping experience, drop by and browse THE NORTHSTAR GENERAL STORE.
Press Releases, Product Reviews, Promotional Copy, Digital Photography, Online Research and Investigation, Ghost Writing, Special Projects. Seattle-based and wired into the International Community. For more information, email to minstrel312@aol.com or go here -> Rusty Miller, Freelance Photojournalist.
GOOD “READS”
Books
If you’d like to read something which combines the best elements of Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and a neo-eco Mickey Spillane detective thriller, you’ll love this one.
“In the brave new world of the Internet, FedEx and an international taste for the exotic, wildlife poachers steal everything from elk horns to geoducks, the world's largest clam. In the waters of Puget Sound in Washington state, state wildlife agents stalk these thieves on land and at sea. In "Shell Games: Rogues, Smugglers, and the Hunt for Nature's Bounty," Seattle Times environmental reporter Craig Welch joins these detectives on the trail of one of the region's most notorious geoduck thieves.”
Welch, a Seattle Times environmental reporter is a compelling writer and this excerpt from the book would be worth the experience even if we were not also fascinated by the subject. If, after reading this extract, you’d like to buy the book, you’ll find it for sale here.
News
BBC – Best source of international news.
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (multi-media), the Toronto Globe & Mail and the Vancouver Sun -- outstanding sources for Canadian national, provincial, and world news.
KING 5 News – Best source of video news of Seattle and the Greater Puget Sound.
New York Times – Best source of American news.
Reuters – Best source of an international perspective on American headlines.
Seattle Times – Best source for news of the city and the Puget Sound. Its reportage is unbiased but their columns and other opinion pieces do reflect the predominant values of the Pacific Northwest.
Sightline Daily (formerly Tidepool) – Best source of Pacific Northwest regional news. Delivered daily by email, it covers Alaska, British Columbia, California, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington. They also put out an excellent weekly environmental edition.
Entertainment
BBC Knowledge Magazine – designed to give the American magazine National Geographic the proverbial run for its money,
TomatoMan Times -- For those who love good writing, there are fewer finer contemporary craftsmen out there now than professionally known as Tomatoman Mike. He’s as Northern Californian as John Steinbeck is, albeit with a dash of Sam Clemmons, Bret Harte and Robert W. Service in him. He’s a romp to read, trust me.
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.
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.
See you next week, eh?
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