Hi again from the Bastion on the Puget Sound. Well, American Gulfporters got yet another heart-stopper this past week. The bad news is a second oil platform exploded. The good news is that there was no loss of life and since it wasn’t pumping anything, no oil or natural gas leaks.
Is it just me or is that still not very reassuring? How safe are the rest of those rigs out there? I’d love to see the actuals on a few of them. I’d also like to know what the industry considers an acceptable risk when they keep men, machinery and materiel on the job for too long.
I have a feeling I’d hear what I’ve heard before, off the record. The demand for the product determines the risk factor. And who determines the demand? We do. For as long as we’ve been using fossil fuels, miners and wildcatters have been dying hard and in inordinate numbers. That doesn’t seem to have mattered very much to us.
If that is, in fact, true ~ particularly in light of the dramatic evolution of renewable options ~ I’m wondering whether the responsibility for dead miners and wildcatters rests with those directly involved or whether it is ours.
Seems to me there’s some blood mixed in with that coal, that oil and that gas. And more than a gallon or so of widow’s tears.
IN OTHER NEWS
Last week, we reported on a rural Washington State school teacher who somehow managed to keep his job after being twice arrested for inappropriately touching his female students. State school superintendent Randy Dorn suspended the teaching license of Michael Moulton, thus ending what victims say is a thirteen-year history of victimizing the most vulnerable. We consider this a totally appropriate intervention by state government and we are actually prouder of that than we are ashamed that in our home state, that this extremely questionable excuse for a decent human being lasted as long as he did in public education. Yep, for more.
This will come as good news to those of us who love organic gardening and consuming the harvest of same. A study recently released by Washington State University (Go Cougars!) confirms that in the case of strawberries, the fruit in “Fruit and Soil Quality of Organic and Conventional Strawberry Agroecosystems, organics are better for both the consumer and the soil in which they are grown. For more on this one.
If you love a good fight for a worthy cause, there’s one shaping up in the interior of Canada’s western province, British Columbia. There’s a proposal to open a new copper mine and the First Nations are opposing it fiercely. To see what North America’s original environmentalists are doing to make a stand, please go here.
SURVIVING HARD TIMES
We’ve spent a lot of time ~ and based on your emails, appropriately so ~ on the more hands-on, non-cyber aspects of surviving hard times. But I got to thinking that those of us who have access to the Net also have ways to generate an income. In my house, it’s another sugar can. I have a potential client now who produces fine walking sticks, flutes and stone sculptures. He’s also soon going to be teaching a course in the last one. The first photo below is the stone he found. The second is what it told him it wanted to be.
He’s also a performing musician who loves demonstrating the instruments he makes. I started out in life in the same art and trust me, he’s good. He’s not interested in being famous but he wouldn’t mind some land on this side of the mountains, his own place, replete with a studio where he and his protoges can create good music. He also wants a workshop for his walking sticks and stone sculptures.
Most of all, he wants an all-weather place of his own to market what he produces. That’s “real time” we’re talking about here. He’s fully aware that yard sales, flea markets, etc. are not going to help much in those regards.
By his own admission, he is totally Internet challenged. He does, however, recognise the value of online marketing. He’s got the stuff and all he really needs is to be promoted honestly and appropriately out there in Cyber Land. That’s what I’m doing and it’s worth 20% commission to him.
We’re talking website creation and networking. And yep, I’m also teaching him how to do it. Nobody lives forever and he’s perfectly capable of doing the whole nine yards himself. It’s just part of the learning curve.
And yep, since I’m also a novelist with a book for sale, I’m hoping for an ‘agent’ with as much enthusiasm for that one admittedly modest attempt at literature of mine as I have a profound appreciation of his art.
This link I found talks about a lot more ways to use the Net to make money. So yep, for this one, go here.
He’s also a performing musician who loves demonstrating the instruments he makes. I started out in life in the same art and trust me, he’s good. He’s not interested in being famous but he wouldn’t mind some land on this side of the mountains, his own place, replete with a studio where he and his protoges can create good music. He also wants a workshop for his walking sticks and stone sculptures.
Most of all, he wants an all-weather place of his own to market what he produces. That’s “real time” we’re talking about here. He’s fully aware that yard sales, flea markets, etc. are not going to help much in those regards.
By his own admission, he is totally Internet challenged. He does, however, recognise the value of online marketing. He’s got the stuff and all he really needs is to be promoted honestly and appropriately out there in Cyber Land. That’s what I’m doing and it’s worth 20% commission to him.
We’re talking website creation and networking. And yep, I’m also teaching him how to do it. Nobody lives forever and he’s perfectly capable of doing the whole nine yards himself. It’s just part of the learning curve.
And yep, since I’m also a novelist with a book for sale, I’m hoping for an ‘agent’ with as much enthusiasm for that one admittedly modest attempt at literature of mine as I have a profound appreciation of his art.
This link I found talks about a lot more ways to use the Net to make money. So yep, for this one, go here.
ON THE CANCER FRONT
This has got to be good news not only for those suffering from an admittedly rare form of cancer (tracheal) but, by implication, for all transplant patients. In this specific case, it’s essentially a donated windpipe using the patient’s implanted healthy stem cells to generate tissue which more closely resembles what it is replacing. Yep, we’re talking about dramatically reducing the risk of transplant rejection of other organs, as well. For more on this one, please go here.
RESOURCES AND RELATED LINKS:
Cancer Research Journal
National Cancer Institute (American)
Fighting Breast Cancer: Breast Cancer Survivor Stories
Science Daily: Health & Medicine News
American Cancer Statistics 2009
Canadian Cancer Statistics 2009
RESOURCES AND RELATED LINKS:
Cancer Research Journal
National Cancer Institute (American)
Fighting Breast Cancer: Breast Cancer Survivor Stories
Science Daily: Health & Medicine News
American Cancer Statistics 2009
Canadian Cancer Statistics 2009
HEALTH NEWS
Good health really can be fun, as I learned once again at this website entitled Froot Facts. Did you know, for instance, that whenever you munch down on a stalk of celery, you’re eating what the ancient Greeks awarded the winners of sporting events? This is another great reference, as well, for parents to motivate their kids to eat what’s good for them. Yep, for this one, please go here.
Eating healthy foods can also be budget enhancing and according to a recent Public Health Nutrition study, one dish is as cheap as fifteen cents American. Without realizing it, we’ve been eating like this for years and our doctor, who has two kids still in college, hates us. We are contributing nothing to their education expenses. The folks at the Farmer’s Market and the PCC Co-Op, however, love us to death. Yep, for more on this one, please go here.
Good health really can be fun, as I learned once again at this website entitled Froot Facts. Did you know, for instance, that whenever you munch down on a stalk of celery, you’re eating what the ancient Greeks awarded the winners of sporting events? This is another great reference, as well, for parents to motivate their kids to eat what’s good for them. Yep, for this one, please go here.
Eating healthy foods can also be budget enhancing and according to a recent Public Health Nutrition study, one dish is as cheap as fifteen cents American. Without realizing it, we’ve been eating like this for years and our doctor, who has two kids still in college, hates us. We are contributing nothing to their education expenses. The folks at the Farmer’s Market and the PCC Co-Op, however, love us to death. Yep, for more on this one, please go here.
SEATTLE SCENES
The University District Farmers Market, Seattle, WashingtonSUMMER GUIDE: Let us steer you to the best beaches, festivals and fun.
SEATTLE FACTS AND FIGURES
Seattle Rainfall in Comparison To Other US Cities
Seattle Geography & Climate
For more information about Seattle
For live cameras on Seattle, the Puget Sound and Washington State
CRITTER STUFF
Ralph
Sasha
I’ve mentioned before that Northstar’s household is critter friendly and I’ve regaled you folks with stories and video of the bears, cougars, bobcats, and bald eagles “taking back the ‘hood’” as it were out here. I almost had myself convinced it was a “Northwest thing,” so I’m delighted to report that there’s a borough in New York City undergoing an ‘invasion’ of raccoons. Yep, check it out here. (And Ralph says hello.) If it’s happening anywhere else under these seven flags, we’d love to hear about it, with a link and permission to share. Email us here then.
Well, given what we’ve reported about dolphins and sea lions being trained to protect the American portion of the Salish Sea (Greater Puget Sound), it comes as good news of sorts to learn that the American government is tightening up regulations around what is appropriate killer whale watching. Us being who we are, however, we’ll go along with it until the first time there’s a military incident in these waters. Then, you will not be able to keep us off of them. This is our home and theirs as well, so if you want to engage in this stupidity, take it outside. You’ve got the whole Pacific Ocean for this. We really don’t need this in our backyard.
Recommended Related Links:
Go Northwest: Northwest Wildlife Websites
BBC’s wildlife finder
National Geographic Daily News - Animals
Retrieverman’s Weblog: Engaging articles on domestic & wildlife in the American South
YOU GUYS THINK I MAKE THIS STUFF UP
For as much as we call for an accounting of human weirdness in this column, we are nonetheless constantly on the lookout for those individuals and behaviours which ennoble the species and address the compassion, the charity, the strength of character and the integrity which is also part of the gene pool of our species. This story comes from “east of the mountains,” as we refer to that part of our state which lies on that side of the Cascades. It is headlined “German woman gets to thank Portland woman in person for post-WWII CARE packages”. Seattle Times reporter Erik Lacitis is one of the finest chroniclers of life here on the shores of the Salish Sea and he’s crafted a powerful, moving and penultimately inspiring story of friendship and love. Yep, go here.
Well, that’s it for now. Thanks for the ear. Before you leave, if you’re in a shopping mood and into some interesting choices? We’ve got a “reader stocked” General Store that you might want to check out. If you’d like to sell something with us or know someone who does, email us at minstrel312@aol.com and we’ll see what we can do.
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