Hi again from the Bastion on the Puget Sound. Well, as an indicator of how well Americans are adapting to changing times without devolving into a more primitive state of mind and behavior, we were not particularly pleased to learn that, thanks to two recent Supreme Court rulings on gun control, four additional states have joined the growing ranks of those which permit carrying concealed firearms into restaurants, bars and other establishments which serve alcohol.
I grew up in a gun culture. Rural Northern California was a “pickup with a Winchester in the cab rack kind of place” with a rich Gold Rush and cowboy-in-general history. Two generations of my family were in law enforcement. All of them were hunters, although for my grandfathers’ generation, it was never a sport but a nutritional necessity and the need for it did not respect hunting seasons.
Holstered sidearms in public places were as common as blue denim, leather boots and corduroy suits on Sunday. They were also, for the most part, tools of survival. They were worn on the ranch and the land in general as a defense against rattlesnakes and in winter, against starving wolves and to signal for help. They were not carried in the expectation of using them against other human beings, nor were they status symbols or badges of manhood.
It was a different America then, though. Violence had not become such a quick fix solution or so common a reaction to extreme stress. It had not become so worshipped by the media that the twisted used it as a way of going out in a blaze of glory. It was not something children experienced very often and communities here at least were still safe places to live.
I believe in the right of every American stable and responsible enough to bear arms to do so. I think it is an incredibly stupid idea to mix firearms and the public consumption of alcohol, particularly at a time when more and more Americans are still living on the edge or getting pushed over it.
I’m also perhaps more grateful than I am at most other times, to be living in a city and a state and a region where most of us have found other ways of coping and don’t need to take our guns to town.
IN OTHER NEWS
Washington State officials are breathing major sighs of relief and still sweating when they think of how close they came to witnessing a natural environmental disaster of some magnitude. In a rather innocuously-headlined story, “Boat with invasive zebra mussels stopped; local firm decontaminates vessel”, Bellingham Herald reporter Dave Gallagher chronicles how a 54-foot boat was pulled off the Great Lakes, where zebra mussels are a $500-million headache, inspected, then loaded onto a big trailer for transport west. If you like adventure stories with a bit of suspense and a happy ending, go here for more on this one
We’ve been reporting on the “electrification” of the Interstate Five corridor, that three-state/one province freeway which runs north from San Diego and terminates in Vancouver, British Columbia. Thanks to a federal grant, the State of Oregon is adding eight fast-charging stations between Eugene and the California border. For more on this one, yep, go here. And our thanks to a reader of the Eugene Register Guard Online for this one.
With the advent of the most intense La Niña conditions near the equator since 1955, the Pacific Northwest is gearing up for a very wet and very cold winter. With customary caution, meteorologists at the National Weather Service briefing held in Seattle Thursday said that there was no guarantee this would be the case this year but all indications suggest preparing for the worst. For more on this one, yep, go here.
SURVIVING HARD TIMES
One of the more challenging aspects of surviving hard times is accepting responsibility for a bad decision, discussing it with those involved, coming to an understanding of how and why it happened, doing damage assessment and mitigation and then, in some cases, sharing it with others so they can learn and perhaps avoid making the same mistake.
Last month, The Northstar Journal was victimized by what turned out to be a bogus contribution of nearly $2,000. We were told at the time we deposited it in our account, by both a teller and a customer service rep, that we didn't need to wait the customary five days before writing checks against it. But we still waited four days before we wrote a big check against some back living expenses.
The donation check bounced and initiated a domino chain reaction which, while not wiping us out, has made it necessary to downsize and relocate. We're hoping to be in a smaller version of the Bastion on the Puget Sound by the end of the month. After almost eight years at the same location.
There were several people responsible for what happened. Since it's common enough with publications like The Northstar Journal to receive anonymous donations, we had no reason to doubt the authenticity of a check delivered by UPS in an envelope with a Microsoft Mail Stop return address and just a check from a foundation written to me personally.
We double checked with the bank the day we deposited the check and twice again on day four and were assured that we didn't need to wait the customary five days before writing checks against it. Had we been told, after asking a total of four times, that we needed to wait those five days, we would, of course, have done so. The bank's response to this has been to deny our version, thus making it an "I said, she said" situation.
We're a small outfit, without the resources to hire an attorney, so that's a no-win situation for Northstar and we're neither contesting the decision nor naming the financial institution involved. We also still bank there. But yes, we consider them also in the "responsibility for this" loop. And it's very likely that we'll eventually be looking for another place to dump the proverbial sugar cans.
Did this "run" on us hurt? Of course it did. It forced at least four other people to divert time and energy from their own lives to deal with this. Survival's no easier for us during these tough times than it is for many of you. We were sucker punched at a time when we didn't even know we were in the bloody ring to begin with.
Was it a torpedo that sank the ship? It's a majour inconvenience but no, that it did not do. Again, it hurt four very decent human beings and their families and it may force us to run a bit late and occasionally some smaller until we find a new base of operations and get settled in.
Will we continue to solicit donations of anywhere from $5.00 up to keep going? Yep. That's what that little Paypal gizmo at the end of every edition is all about. It’s also what publications like ours do. By your emails and occasional Instant Messenger conversations, we know we're appreciated and that there are quite a few of you who'd like to support us in other ways but simply can't. We provide the opportunity, however, and from time to time, you folks connect with it.
In closing, we're not moving, geographically, very far. But it will be a new environment for us. In the thick gray clouds so swiftly gathering around shorter days and longer nights ushering in what promises to be a record-breakingly long and cold winter on the shores of the Salish Sea, it is turning out to be an exquisitely reflective autumn.
Be careful, okay? The only thing that could possibly make this worse is if, after reading this, it happens to you. Please, since we don't need to go there? Let's not?
Sometimes, as I am constantly learning, just because I can’t make the connection doesn’t mean there isn’t one. Apparently regularly flossing one’s teeth can also help prevent neck cancer. Yep, 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
SEATTLE SCENES
These students were among the 40,000 or so who showed up for the first day of the Fall term, Wednesday, at the University of Washington. Photo by Merritt Scott (Rusty) Miller.
I grew up in a gun culture. Rural Northern California was a “pickup with a Winchester in the cab rack kind of place” with a rich Gold Rush and cowboy-in-general history. Two generations of my family were in law enforcement. All of them were hunters, although for my grandfathers’ generation, it was never a sport but a nutritional necessity and the need for it did not respect hunting seasons.
Holstered sidearms in public places were as common as blue denim, leather boots and corduroy suits on Sunday. They were also, for the most part, tools of survival. They were worn on the ranch and the land in general as a defense against rattlesnakes and in winter, against starving wolves and to signal for help. They were not carried in the expectation of using them against other human beings, nor were they status symbols or badges of manhood.
It was a different America then, though. Violence had not become such a quick fix solution or so common a reaction to extreme stress. It had not become so worshipped by the media that the twisted used it as a way of going out in a blaze of glory. It was not something children experienced very often and communities here at least were still safe places to live.
I believe in the right of every American stable and responsible enough to bear arms to do so. I think it is an incredibly stupid idea to mix firearms and the public consumption of alcohol, particularly at a time when more and more Americans are still living on the edge or getting pushed over it.
I’m also perhaps more grateful than I am at most other times, to be living in a city and a state and a region where most of us have found other ways of coping and don’t need to take our guns to town.
IN OTHER NEWS
Washington State officials are breathing major sighs of relief and still sweating when they think of how close they came to witnessing a natural environmental disaster of some magnitude. In a rather innocuously-headlined story, “Boat with invasive zebra mussels stopped; local firm decontaminates vessel”, Bellingham Herald reporter Dave Gallagher chronicles how a 54-foot boat was pulled off the Great Lakes, where zebra mussels are a $500-million headache, inspected, then loaded onto a big trailer for transport west. If you like adventure stories with a bit of suspense and a happy ending, go here for more on this one
We’ve been reporting on the “electrification” of the Interstate Five corridor, that three-state/one province freeway which runs north from San Diego and terminates in Vancouver, British Columbia. Thanks to a federal grant, the State of Oregon is adding eight fast-charging stations between Eugene and the California border. For more on this one, yep, go here. And our thanks to a reader of the Eugene Register Guard Online for this one.
With the advent of the most intense La Niña conditions near the equator since 1955, the Pacific Northwest is gearing up for a very wet and very cold winter. With customary caution, meteorologists at the National Weather Service briefing held in Seattle Thursday said that there was no guarantee this would be the case this year but all indications suggest preparing for the worst. For more on this one, yep, go here.
SURVIVING HARD TIMES
One of the more challenging aspects of surviving hard times is accepting responsibility for a bad decision, discussing it with those involved, coming to an understanding of how and why it happened, doing damage assessment and mitigation and then, in some cases, sharing it with others so they can learn and perhaps avoid making the same mistake.
Last month, The Northstar Journal was victimized by what turned out to be a bogus contribution of nearly $2,000. We were told at the time we deposited it in our account, by both a teller and a customer service rep, that we didn't need to wait the customary five days before writing checks against it. But we still waited four days before we wrote a big check against some back living expenses.
The donation check bounced and initiated a domino chain reaction which, while not wiping us out, has made it necessary to downsize and relocate. We're hoping to be in a smaller version of the Bastion on the Puget Sound by the end of the month. After almost eight years at the same location.
There were several people responsible for what happened. Since it's common enough with publications like The Northstar Journal to receive anonymous donations, we had no reason to doubt the authenticity of a check delivered by UPS in an envelope with a Microsoft Mail Stop return address and just a check from a foundation written to me personally.
We double checked with the bank the day we deposited the check and twice again on day four and were assured that we didn't need to wait the customary five days before writing checks against it. Had we been told, after asking a total of four times, that we needed to wait those five days, we would, of course, have done so. The bank's response to this has been to deny our version, thus making it an "I said, she said" situation.
We're a small outfit, without the resources to hire an attorney, so that's a no-win situation for Northstar and we're neither contesting the decision nor naming the financial institution involved. We also still bank there. But yes, we consider them also in the "responsibility for this" loop. And it's very likely that we'll eventually be looking for another place to dump the proverbial sugar cans.
Did this "run" on us hurt? Of course it did. It forced at least four other people to divert time and energy from their own lives to deal with this. Survival's no easier for us during these tough times than it is for many of you. We were sucker punched at a time when we didn't even know we were in the bloody ring to begin with.
Was it a torpedo that sank the ship? It's a majour inconvenience but no, that it did not do. Again, it hurt four very decent human beings and their families and it may force us to run a bit late and occasionally some smaller until we find a new base of operations and get settled in.
Will we continue to solicit donations of anywhere from $5.00 up to keep going? Yep. That's what that little Paypal gizmo at the end of every edition is all about. It’s also what publications like ours do. By your emails and occasional Instant Messenger conversations, we know we're appreciated and that there are quite a few of you who'd like to support us in other ways but simply can't. We provide the opportunity, however, and from time to time, you folks connect with it.
In closing, we're not moving, geographically, very far. But it will be a new environment for us. In the thick gray clouds so swiftly gathering around shorter days and longer nights ushering in what promises to be a record-breakingly long and cold winter on the shores of the Salish Sea, it is turning out to be an exquisitely reflective autumn.
Be careful, okay? The only thing that could possibly make this worse is if, after reading this, it happens to you. Please, since we don't need to go there? Let's not?
ON THE CANCER FRONT
Sometimes, as I am constantly learning, just because I can’t make the connection doesn’t mean there isn’t one. Apparently regularly flossing one’s teeth can also help prevent neck cancer. Yep, 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
HEALTH NEWS
October is Children’s Health Month. AOL has a site which is celebrating that by providing a wealth of information on a range of conditions from autism to childhood obesity and more. I’ve bookmarked this one for our personal use and I highly recommend it.
In our ongoing campaign to convert the sedentary among you to health and longevity, we found another reason for walking. In a recent study of people from 55 – 80, it was found out that this form of exercise/lifestyle helps prevent the brain from “fogging up.” Other studies I’ve read indicate walking also helps with absentmindedness, short term memory loss, improvement in overall mental acuity and the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. So yep, for more on this once, go here.
Since the season is clearly upon us, we thought you’d appreciate this video on five ways to fend off a cold.
October is Children’s Health Month. AOL has a site which is celebrating that by providing a wealth of information on a range of conditions from autism to childhood obesity and more. I’ve bookmarked this one for our personal use and I highly recommend it.
In our ongoing campaign to convert the sedentary among you to health and longevity, we found another reason for walking. In a recent study of people from 55 – 80, it was found out that this form of exercise/lifestyle helps prevent the brain from “fogging up.” Other studies I’ve read indicate walking also helps with absentmindedness, short term memory loss, improvement in overall mental acuity and the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. So yep, for more on this once, go here.
Since the season is clearly upon us, we thought you’d appreciate this video on five ways to fend off a cold.
GOOD EXAMPLES
When budget cuts forced an Oregon community’s road department to revise its own pothole filling program, a private paving company came forward with a unique “Potholes for Poverty” solution. People can contact this company about a pothole and have it filled in return for a donation to a local, regional or national charity. Yep, for the whole story on this one, go here.
We are definitely banging both hands together, whistling and cheering for a Puget Sound suburb police officer who helped a woman in labor deliver a baby. She went into labor in her car, which was parked in front of Puyallup (pew-ALL-up) City Hall. Lt. Scott Engle noticed the commotion. A recent father himself, he assisted the couple and cleared the infant’s airway so the baby could breathe. Mother and daughter are doing fine. For video on this one, go here.
This week, Seattle joined four other American cities in promoting bicycles as a legitimate transit alternative. The State Department of Transportation (SDOT) installed the first of four bike boxes at an intersection near downtown. What it means is that at this intersection, bikes will stop in a green area in front of cars, trucks and buses. When the light changes, cyclists will go first, followed by the motorized transport behind them. For more on this one and to identify the four other cities also now using these, go here.
When budget cuts forced an Oregon community’s road department to revise its own pothole filling program, a private paving company came forward with a unique “Potholes for Poverty” solution. People can contact this company about a pothole and have it filled in return for a donation to a local, regional or national charity. Yep, for the whole story on this one, go here.
We are definitely banging both hands together, whistling and cheering for a Puget Sound suburb police officer who helped a woman in labor deliver a baby. She went into labor in her car, which was parked in front of Puyallup (pew-ALL-up) City Hall. Lt. Scott Engle noticed the commotion. A recent father himself, he assisted the couple and cleared the infant’s airway so the baby could breathe. Mother and daughter are doing fine. For video on this one, go here.
This week, Seattle joined four other American cities in promoting bicycles as a legitimate transit alternative. The State Department of Transportation (SDOT) installed the first of four bike boxes at an intersection near downtown. What it means is that at this intersection, bikes will stop in a green area in front of cars, trucks and buses. When the light changes, cyclists will go first, followed by the motorized transport behind them. For more on this one and to identify the four other cities also now using these, go here.
SEATTLE SCENES
These students were among the 40,000 or so who showed up for the first day of the Fall term, Wednesday, at the University of Washington. Photo by Merritt Scott (Rusty) Miller.What’s Going On Here?
Whether you live here or plan to visit ~ and whatever it is you enjoy doing at home or as a tourist ~ you’ll find it, you’ll find it listed here at seattlepi.com.
Whether you live here or plan to visit ~ and whatever it is you enjoy doing at home or as a tourist ~ you’ll find it, you’ll find it listed here at seattlepi.com.
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
Anyone who underestimates the intelligence of animals will probably have a hard time embracing this one. I, however, totally loved it and I think most of you will too. It comes to us from England, in the UK, and it’s about a cat who has, since 2007, boarded a bus at the same stop and disembarked, consistently, at the next one, which has a Fish ‘n Chips stand nearby. What I found so cool is that this same site has a story about another cat in Britain who did the same thing. Yep, for this one, go here.
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
I have a passion for potatoes that has incited the jealousy of people close to me. Whether it’s my blended Irish and Russian heritage or simply that it’s one of the healthiest foods on the planet and that there is a seemingly infinite variety of ways in which it can be prepared and served, the immutable truth is that I consume at least one spud a day. I found someone, however, who is going on an all-potato diet for awhile. He’s going to eat 20 spuds per diem for two months. He’s the executive director of the Washington State Potato Commission and he’s promoting one of our most important agricultural exports. I applaud his intent but I don’t envy him the experience. There’s only one thing I know of which improves with that much consumption and it’s not a food group. Yep, for the whole story on this one, go here.
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
I have a passion for potatoes that has incited the jealousy of people close to me. Whether it’s my blended Irish and Russian heritage or simply that it’s one of the healthiest foods on the planet and that there is a seemingly infinite variety of ways in which it can be prepared and served, the immutable truth is that I consume at least one spud a day. I found someone, however, who is going on an all-potato diet for awhile. He’s going to eat 20 spuds per diem for two months. He’s the executive director of the Washington State Potato Commission and he’s promoting one of our most important agricultural exports. I applaud his intent but I don’t envy him the experience. There’s only one thing I know of which improves with that much consumption and it’s not a food group. Yep, for the whole story on this one, 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.
The Northstar Journal is funded by contributions from readers like yourself. If you enjoyed this edition and would like to contribute to the next, please click the donate button below. Rusty
No comments:
Post a Comment