In Tribute to Miep Gies, Thoughts of Warmer Times, And Our Heart Goes Out to Haiti

Thoughts of warmer days. These were taken on Lake Washington on July 29, 2009, when the official temperature reached 103, making it the hottest day on record. For more hot/warm weather windows, please go here. For more photos like this, please visit my online gallery. Photos by MS(R)M

Hi again and yep, from the ramparts of the Bastion on the Puget Sound, it’s been another interesting week.

We join the rest of the world in mourning the passing, at age 100, of Miep Gies, the brave woman from the Netherlands who helped Anne Frank and her family hide from the Germans during World War II and, after the Gestapo finally discovered them, made sure Ms Frank’s diaries were returned to the only one of them to survive the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, Anne’s father Otto. Anne died there at age 15 of typhus. For a moving tribute to a quiet, humble and incredibly brave human being, please go here. For more on Miep’s life and times, please go here.

And our heart certainly goes out to those hundreds of thousands in Haiti victimized by the worst earthquake in 200 years. For more on this one, please go here. And to learn how you can help, please check this link.

SURVIVING HARD TIMES

Workers at Portland, Oregon’s Daimler Truck plant received good news when it was announced that the struggling operation was awarded $40-million in federal funds to develop more fuel efficient technologies. Daimler was one of nine companies to receive such an award. For more on this one and a list of the others involved, please go here.

And under the category of breaking stereotype, Detroit takes best read in this category. As Susan Salny of the New York Times reports:

“With $6,000 and some Hollywood-style spunk, four friends opened this city’s only independent foreign movie house three months ago in an abandoned school auditorium on an unlighted stretch of the Cass Corridor near downtown.”

Yep, this is one of those, if they can do it there, maybe we can do it here stories so for more on this, please go here.

MORE GOOD NEWS

Congratulations to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada for winning the Sightline Institute’s Cascadia’s Greenest City award. I’m also pleased that Seattle came in second and Portland, for whose major daily newspaper I once worked, third.

For those of you unfamiliar with Cascadia, it basically extends south from the Alaska Peninsula to San Francisco and east across British Columbia to western Alberta, then south through parts of Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Nevada and Northern California.

In my experience, there’s nothing quite so empowering and inspiring as a good example. So to find out what criteria the Institute used and how each city ranked by category, please go here.

A small Washington state community has found a unique way to recycle Christmas trees by letting the goats at a local animal rescue eat them. I love it and yep, only in Washington and remember where you read it first. Yep, go here.

Maybe not so good news but if anyone still doubts global warming, they might want to take a hike up Mt. Rainier. According to Seattle Times science reporter Sandi Doughton:

“The fallout from Mount Rainier's shrinking glaciers is beginning to roll downhill, and nowhere is the impact more striking than on the volcano's west side.”

I can see Mt. Rainer from the ramparts of the Bastion on the Puget Sound and I was on the Canadian border when her sister, Mt. St. Helens, erupted. A lot of us count on those glaciers to keep Lady Rainer cool, calm and unriled. Understandably, then, we’ll be keeping a close eye on this one. You can too, by going here.

CRITTER STUFF

We’ve got three totally beautiful stories to share with you this week and the first is about this absolutely darling dolphin who had the misfortune, as a baby, to get her tail caught in a crab pot rope. Despite every effort possible, Winter lost her fluke and it was decided she’d be safer in the Clearwater Marine Aquarium in Florida, where she could also be rehabilitated. She became an instant hit, of course, and attracted the attention of a small company which has been making prosthetic flukes for her. This is one of the most moving and inspirational I’ve read in a long time. For an interview with Winter’s trainer, Abby Stone, on The Bonnie Hunt Show, please go here. To see where Winter lives, yep, please go here.

Closer to home, our local orca pot increased its number by one on New Years Day. A twelve-year-old killer whale had a calf, which was spotted as J Pod moved south of Vancouver Island and into the Puget Sound. Yep, he/she’s a cutie and for a pix of mother and child and more on this one, please go here. Our thanks to Dave and Marilee from Victoria, British Columbia, Canada and to the Victoria Times Colonist for this one.

I loved this one because I love it when animals keep humans guessing. And according to Tom Stienstra, San Francisco Chronicle Outdoors Writer. Some are.

“The question on everyone's mind lately has been: Where have San Francisco's famous sea lions gone? The answer might lie about 500 miles north of the Golden Gate, where an estimated 2,000 sea lions have recently arrived off the central Oregon coast.”

I’ve been to Florence this time of year and it’s a real nice break from the pandemonium of urban society. San Francisco’s been going through a lot of changes lately and they’ve never been known for doing anything on the hush and nod.

My guess most of these new arrivals to Sea Lion Caves were probably light sleepers who just needed to catch up on their zzzzzs. As large as they are, those are probably ZZZZZZZZZZZZs. I expect they’ll be up there some while. San Francisco doesn’t show any signs of keeping it down past ten p.m. Yep, for more on this one, please go here.


FROM YOU GUYS FOR YOU GUYS

ty mick. i liked hearing about the coyote. my dad had a coyote for a pet when he was a teenager and evidentally both adapted well until my grandfather sold the coyote. i have always thought that was mean spirited of him. warmest regards, fay

Fay, as always, a pleasure, lass. We kind of tripped out on it too.

Well, when I first heard about this one, I didn’t believe it so I don’t expect you guys to either. Yep, into the YOU GUYS THINK I MAKE THIS STUFF UP category for this one. To make a point recently, some passengers on Seattle’s newly initiated light rail line boarded the train in downtown’s Westlake Center and then took their pants off. On the scene were television crews, astounded passengers and more pundits than vultures on the Great Serengeti after a lion feast.

The Chamber of Commerce is not going to like this but Seattleites have a reputation for doing things sans clothing. Nudity is legal in all our public parks (I’ve never seen anybody in their birthday suit in the 20 years I’ve lived here but then I don’t go looking for stuff like that with gun or camera.)

I guess my objection to it is primarily aesthetic. I’ve staged special events and if I was going to get a bunch of semi-nude people together to draw attention to a cause or complaint, I’d hire models of both sexes and all gender persuasions. If we’re going to appeal to the libido here, for crying out loud, let’s get them ogling good before they turn away in mock outrage and impersonate the fine, upstanding and straitlaced citizens that give a town a good reputation.

That’s it for this week. We’ve got some cool stuff down below you might want to check out. Stay the course, gang. We’re getting there and we’re going to make it. And thanks once again for the ear. And stuff.

Rusty


NORTHSTAR RECOMMENDS


FUN STUFF

Virtual Experiences

How about a trip to Seattle’s Woodland Park Zoo to watch a couple of grizzly bears in their Northwest setting? Yep, click here and thanks to our friends at Puget Sound NBC affiliate KING 5.

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.

REVIEWS

Music CDs

Over the holidays, I had a chance to experience Susan Boyle’s “I Dream A Dream” CD. And if ever there was a good time for this one, it is surely now, when it seems as though the whole world could use some hope, some inspiration and an example of how a complicated soul simply expressed can make a difference. I was a professional dance and show combo leader with time in grade at 18 and I know what it takes to move an audience.

It’s a lot more than just being able to sing well. To sing for working class people, who don’t really believe anybody who hasn’t been where they have, it takes being able to get inside the song and become that song.

Check out the selections on her CD. They include: Wild Horses; I Dreamed A Dream; Cry Me A River; How Great Thou Art; You’ll See; Daydream Believer; Up To The Mountain; Amazing Grace; Who I Was Born To Be; Proud; The End of the World; and Silent Night.

Susan does that with each and every one of them. Getting into the song and becoming the song. Like most folks, I suspect, I wanted to hear I Dream A Dream first. That was the same stellar experience the first time I watched her totally wow a panel of British judges and then do it all over again in the Colonies as it were.

As I listened, though, to the other songs, I totally forgot about Susan, the one who did that one. Like she did, I became the soul of those for whom these songs are written and for whom she sings them. It wasn’t hard because I am one of those.

And as haunted as hard times make all of us, including me, she took me to a place where people experience it about as deep as it cuts and yet survive to grow and find a better life. She made me feel a little less lonely and a lot more connected.

I was brought up to believe that whatever a person did in this life, they should never forget who they are as a person. Ms. Boyle has done that both by personal example and in her art. I expect me and mine will be in her debt for some while.

Thank you, Susan, Lass. We are honoured by your society.

To purchase this online, we invite you to go here.

Good Reads

For those into words that resonate, there are fewer finer contemporary craftsman I know than a man named Mike Browne, professionally known as Tomatoman Mike and the publisher of The Tomato Man Times. He’s as Northern Californian as John Steinbeck, albeit with a dash of Sam Clemmons, Bret Harte and Robert W. Service in him. He’s a romp to read, trust me.

FOR YOUR ONLINE SHOPPING CONVENIENCE

We invite you to do all your amazon.com through by tapping the photo of Susan or the ad. The Northstar Journal receives a 15% commission on whatever you purchase through this link.

SURVIVING HARD TIMES

I made chowder, you made pickles. Let’s trade
I so love it when my “home and native land” proves yet again that they have something to teach the International Community about surviving hard times. You’ll love this one, gang. With thanks to the Toronto Globe & Mail.

And lest we think this is limited to country folk, consider this one, headlined, Bootstrapping taken to new extremes in tech industry

Or how about a seasonable application regarding Christmas trees? (This will be a real stretch for those of you in Toronto, New York, Dublin, London and Paris) Ever imagine having one delivered to your home by bicycle? Real close to the category of You Guys Think I Make This Stuff Up so by all means, go here ye yahoos of little faith

HEALTH

Ten foods that really do help prevent cancer.

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 TOOLS FOR THE KIT

WorldStart.com - The best source of computer information, tips, education, entertainment, industry news, graphics and useful websites.

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.”

CCleaner - Free software downloads and software reviews - CNET Download.com
The home of Spybot-S&D! “For the past few years I've been using two free programs to remove the tracking cookies we accumulate every time we visit a site. Both have proven safe and reliable. Try them. You'll be surprised at the amount of binary barnacles your pore little hard accumulates as it sails the cyber seas. Sorry, but neither program eliminates alliterative purple patch prose. Like mine.”
Mike Browne, Sacramento, CA

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

Overview

For those interested in what’s going on in the world of magazines and newspapers in general, we highly recommend Woodenhorsepub.com. They publish a weekly online newsletter for media professionals and for readers simply interested in the future of the publications they enjoy and an advance on new ones they might. Their website is located here.

Entertainment

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.

BBC Knowledge Magazine – designed to give the American magazine National Geographic the proverbial run for its money,

News

BBC – Best source of international news.

The New York Times – Best source of American news.

The Vancouver Sun -- outstanding source for Canadian national, provincial, and world news.

Reuters – Best source of an international perspective on American headlines.

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.

KING 5 News – Best source of video news of Seattle and the Greater Puget Sound.

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? You might enjoy checking out a gallery of my work for sale

A PYROMANIC THREATENS SEATTLE’S U DISTRICT, SCIENTISTS PROVE WE ARE NOT RELATED TO APES AND A STRAY LLAMA IS RESCUED FROM PIKE’S PEAK

Calm in the face of pyromania

photo by MS(R)M

Hi again and yep, from the ramparts of the Bastion on the Puget Sound, it’s been another interesting week. Where I live is under two alerts now; one for an arsonist sliding into pyromaniac status and the other for the swine flu. This is the U District, so named for the University of Washington, with a student body of approximately 42,000, making this one of Seattle’s more densely populated neighborhoods.

Faced with a choice between the swine flu and someone who likes setting buildings on fire, I would take the former in a country heartbeat. Fire does not turn me on. If it had been left to my ancestors to invent it, we’d be eating our meat sushi style. I don’t even like roasting marshmallows. My feeling is that if the Good Lord had intended them lightly browned, He’d have made them crispy to begin with. So I’ll take mine fresh from the bush, thank you.

I also don’t like fire because I’ve seen what it can do up close and personal. We survived one in the Sierra Nevada Mountains when I was a kid growing up in Northern California. I fought one on a destroyer in the Mekong and then spent some time in an intensive care ward of a hospital ship when helicopter crash victims were coming back from Vietnam proper. Some twenty years later, in southern Oregon’s Umpqua Valley, there were two forest fires the same summer, Bland Mountain and the Angel Complex. And I’ve covered probably another twenty or so as a newspaper reporter and photographer.

What was particularly insidious about these last two incidents here is that they involved setting fire to flammable materials and then semi-blocking the rear exit of two apartment buildings. This arsonist doesn’t just want to see something burn, he wants to hurt people. And he wants to strike fear into the heart of every resident in the District. He wants to distract 42,000 students from the start of a new school year. He wants to deploy emergency services often and at the taxpayer’s expense. He wants the satisfaction of knowing that however small, insignificant, impotent and lacking in courage he himself may be, he is still capable of exercising the power of a piney woods Caligula or another legendary pyromaniac, Nero.

Well, this freak isn’t having it entirely his way. There is no panic in the University District. I happened to be out walking one night when Seattle Fire and other emergency services were called to the scene of one of these and there was no hysteria, no fright. This is a land of earthquakes, volcanoes and weather as chimeric and unpredictable as any the planet has ever known. Northwesterners do not frighten easily. They know what vigilance is like. They know how to take care of one another.

Eventually this fire fetishist will be apprehended, hopefully before his lethal hobby hurts anyone. So far that hasn’t happened but God forbid that it should. Seattle’s justice system will not be inclined to show leniency, compassion or much understanding. These young people ~ some of them veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan ~ are the future of this region. They are, in that sense, children of us all. The surest way to hell in this part of the country is to hurt one of them.

Here’s one that’ll rock your socks a little. Apparently, based on new fossil evidence, scientists have decided that human beings are not related to chimpanzees or any other simians. There is no “missing link”. We cannot blame any of our uncivilized behaviour on a common gene pool. There is no “going ape” or “aping”. We cannot fault the gorilla for our chronic chest beating nor this recurrent sport of mooning on the orangutan. I’m sure, once the word hits the jungle telegraph, that will come as some relief to them as well. It’s time to quit slandering these poor creatures and get on with it.

Well, residents along the northwestern coasts of British Columbia, Canada and Washington State are welcoming back some old friends. One of the most beautiful of all seagoing creatures and one nearly hunted to extinction is off the endangered species list and thriving. We’re talking about the humpback whale and you really need to experience this story firsthand. So please go here.

This week’s “Interesting Application of New Technology Award” goes to the farmer whose cattle were polluting a stream where salmon came to spawn and decided to try an alternative. He installed a small pump in the stream, ran PCP pipe underground and pumped water for his cattle into two big watering troughs. Where did the power to run the pump come from? A single solar cell installed with a fence around it. Now the cows aren’t polluting the stream and the Coho are starting to return in greater numbers. By my reckoning, that’s got to have applications a lot of other places besides Washington State.

Thanks, among other things, to two American Belgian draft horses, a couple in Walla Walla, Washington is proving that thirteen acres is enough to not only sustain a small family but produce a surplus to sell to the local community. It’s totally organic and includes eggs laid by organically raised and fed chickens. Again, another example that is imminently exportable. For more, please go here.

And finally, I have never been to the Colorado Rockies but I have always admired the music of John Denver. For all of that, I have heard rumours of high mountain eccentricities and of the strange relationships between man and beast. Therefore, I was more than a little curious when I came across this story about the rescue of a white llama from the top of Pike’s Peak. It turns out that some hikers had seen it wandering alone, were concerned it might fall victim to a predator and decided to rescue it and relocate it to friendlier territory. My opinion, then, is some revised about people who live in that part of the country.

Well, that’s it for this week, folks. Thanks once 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 Tools for the Kit
Free People Search – This is an American online White Pages that I found really simple, quick and user friendly. I looked for myself under the several versions of my name and it found them all. It’s also free and doesn’t involve anything to download.

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? You might enjoy checking out a gallery of my work for sale

NATION SAYS FAREWELL TO THE LAST OF THE KENNEDY BROTHERS AND TELLS FIRST LADY SHE CAN WEAR SHORTS ON HOLIDAY

SEATTLE

A skyline a good mayor helped to sculpt

Photo by MS(R)M

Hi again, folks. Well, this house joins the nation in mourning the passing of U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy (D) MA. His passing marks the end of what many considered a political dynasty; others, an almost Shakespearean royal family rocked by assassination, scandal, a bit of Prince Machiavelli and more than a hint of Camelot.

In praising the youngest Kennedy brother’s contributions during nearly 50 years in Congress, Sen. Orrin Hatch, (R) Utah cited a list which included a federally funded program for HIV/AIDS victims; health insurance for lower-income children, and tax breaks to fund medical research and development for rare diseases.

"Ted Kennedy was an iconic, larger than life United States Senator whose influence cannot be overstated."

Senator Kennedy, whose sister Eunice Kennedy Shriver passed away last week, was 77 and succumbed to a malignant brain tumor. For a look at the life and times of this remarkable ~ if not often controversial ~ American, please go here.

I was so relieved last week to note that, according to a Today Show poll, 83 percent of those responding approve of the First Lady wearing shorts. The news was greeted by a flood of congratulations to Michelle from a host of world leaders, including those in Ottawa, Dublin, London, Paris, Moscow, Beijing, Teheran and Austin, Texas. Many also said that it’s motivated them to take us, the American people, much more seriously for having decided that raging issue so decisively and in such relatively short order.

And without special interest groups. Or lobbyists, unions, picket lines, boycotts, protest marches, media blitzes and talk show barrages. We took a look, as a people, at the serious issues facing us and decided that this one must be dealt with swiftly, efficiently, and in no uncertain terms. We decided that a young woman who looks cool in shorts should be allowed to wear them on holiday. In public. And best of all, we did it together.

Well, here’s one that might have totally slipped under the Weird Radar, if nothing else but for the headline alone. Who needs gasoline if you have old beer? I mean what are we talking about, a garage full of partial empties and six packs with a couple cans we overlooked during the last orgy? This is Seattle. They don’t let you live like that here. It sets a bad example and encourages the wrong kind of people to come here.

But this comes from the Los Angeles Times so I took a look and what they’re talking about is this $10,000 machine that can take any organic waste and convert it to ethanol. It’s apparently just breaking the market and one of the investors in the system’s distributor is former L.A. Laker Shaquille O'Neal. It’s called the MicroFueler and you can visit their website here

The “Classiest Act in Politics” goes this week to Seattle two-term mayor Greg Nickels who finished third in this month’s primary and whose concession speech and press conference were totally lacking in rancor, recrimination or the least bit of ill humor. Greg’s served Seattle well for almost eight years and in citing what he felt were the contributions of his administration, he did not use the first person singular, nor did he limit those achievements to the political sector. It was about what “we” as the citizens of Seattle accomplished together. I hope his successor has Greg’s instinctive understanding of government’s role, as least as we’ve defined it here in our town.

Well, two critter stories this week and the first one is NOT fuzzy. But for anyone who loves watching what they keep discovering in the ocean, this one’s a trip. And again, you have GOT to love whoever writes the headlines. This one’s from the Portland Oregonian, my alma mater, and it’s slugged (newspaper talk for “titled”) “Flamboyant, deep-sea worms discovered off Oregon's coast”.

Okay, the fact that it creeps me out a little to think of someone getting to know a new species of deep sea worm discovered by watching the monitor of a remote controlled submarine 9,000 – 11,000 feet off the coast of Oregon well enough to ascribe personality traits to it, I do have to admire the spirit of discovery.

But a part of me is going to be watching this one real closely. We have tamed stranger species only to end up in the belly of the tiger, as it were. My general rule is that if I can’t meet these folks on their own turf or they on mine, it’s like give my best to the wife and family and have a good life. I do not box with bears, croon with cougars, dive with dolphins, fly with eagles, romp with Republicans or dance with wolves. They’re not that desperate for company and neither, quite yet, am I. Flamboyant worms. Yeah, that’s an image to cuddle up with.

Apparently Montana’s decided that collisions between 18-wheelers and grizzly bear, elk, deer, etc. along a 56 mile stretch of highway crossing a very popular migration path can be resolved on the side of interspecies cooperation rather than an apology for big road kill.

Not to mention what happens in a collision between the average grizzly and the occupants of these cute little phone booths on wheels insidious foreign nations have been covertly introducing into this country for some while now.

So human Montanans are building like 43 of these big wildlife crossing tunnels UNDER the highway. There’s some inspirational civil engineering and design going into these. The entire project is slated to be finished before this year’s first snows so if you’d like to see what this one looks like in development, here’s the site.

Well, that’s it for this week folks. We’re making it through this and it’s only a matter of applying what we’re learning now and hanging in just a bit longer. And we’re tough and we can do that, right?

Thanks once again for the ear. Take care, stay well and God Bless. We here at Northstar are honoured by your society.

Rusty

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.

Other Blogs
The Tomatoman Times – a life commentary blog with the blended stylings of John Steinbeck, Mark Twain, Jack London and Will Rogers. Poignant, at times rancorous but very contemporary and ultimate celebration.

Lords and Ladies of Leisure is sooooo misnamed and it’s an example of the humour with which a Seattle high tech victim deals with the wonderful world of unemployment. Kerri Marshall’s admittedly offbeat sense of humour spices up a blog also rich in practical advice. The comments from her readers are almost as entertaining of she is. If you’ve got a few minutes and want a little perspective on your own hard times, I highly recommend this one.

Media
Vinyl Cafe with Stuart McLean – Live from the smallest record store in North America. Canadian humor, entertainment and commentary at its maple leaf best. Popular on National Public Radio in the States.

Sightline Daily (formerly Tidepool) – The “United Press International/Reuters of the American West/ Updated and informative news shorts with links to the source. Its editors draw from a coverage area which includes Alaska, British Columbia, California, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington. Update and informative collected news shorts from those sources. They also put out an excellent weekly environmental edition.

U Got Style is a monthly ezine dedicated to independent films. Fully illustrated, it features hard news, interviews, reviews and a wide variety of other information. It’s also fun to read.

The Vancouver Sun, outstanding source for Canadian and world news.

Online Tools for the Kit
Free People Search – This is an American online White Pages that I found really simple, quick and user friendly. I looked for myself under the several versions of my name and it found them all. It’s also free and doesn’t involve anything to download.

Talent For Hire
Rusty Miller, Freelance Photojournalist -- Yep, a little self-promotion here to help pay for the blog. Take a look at the services offered menu on my writer-for-hire homepage and samples of my digital lens work on my photography website. If you see something you like, email me and we’ll get together on it.

Are you a travel editor looking for colour shots of Seattle? Are you an art dealer looking for new work to carry on consignment? You might enjoy checking out a gallery of my work for sale.

COMING ATTRACTIONS

In the weeks to come, we’re going to create ~ in addition to Northstar Recommends ~ a Northstar General Store in which you, the readers, will have an opportunity to market your own goods and services and, as well, to shop here. We’re going to get real creative with this and whenever possible, we’ll have tried what we’re carrying on the shelves, as it were. We’ll be taking a straight ten percent for this, via Paypal. We’ll also consider barter and trade.

If you’ve got any recommendations of your own and are interested in the General Store, email me and we’ll talk.

GOVERNOR PALIN, LIGHTNING SURVIVORS AND A NEW JERSEY BEAR WITH A PASSION FOR HOAGIES

This nice lady and her dog very graciously posed for me in Seattle's University District. Photo by MS(R)M

Well, hi again, folks. It’s been a real interesting week on the political scene, eh? Sarah Palin decided to resign as Alaska’s governor amid speculation she’s preparing for higher office. That, coupled with her media-wide tete to tete with a highly respected comedian who is living proof that if you run your mouth long enough, it better be big enough for both feet (Know THAT one well), she’s managed to capture the spotlight brilliantly.

I’m sorry but I’m okay with that. If that’s what the public needs right now to cope with all this other “interesting stuff,” Sarah’s one of the best shows in town. And it’s admission free. Sarah, for some reason, reminds me of someone I dated back when chivalry was still an overcoat across a puddle.

She was a beautiful lass, this one, with a lot going for her. But she was extremely concerned about her health and had a real sincere and independent interest in things involving medicine, health, etc. She was also acutely empathetic and had a habit of acquiring personal symptoms from a spectrum of sources.

I happened to know a doctor with an extra big heart and I suggested she might want to talk to him to see if he could help her deal with her apparent hypochondria. Yep, you’re way ahead of me. She ran off with the doctor and they’re living happily ever after.

Sarah Palin reminds me of Shakespeare’s classic use of fools. It’s one thing to act like one. It’s an entirely different matter to be one. And the Bard knew something the younger of the Smothers Brothers played to the hilt. We all love watching a fool, don’t we?

If Governor Palin indeed IS a fool ~ and before any of the Conservative readership starts trumpeting or the Liberals braying, I said IF she’s a fool ~ look at the attention she’s getting and ask yourself, for one fleeting second, what that says about those of us who keep her in that spotlight in the first place. Personally, I’m off the hook. I’m just here for the company and the free popcorn. Aaaand moving right along here and stuff.

This past Fourth of July proved, despite a statewide ban on private fireworks, a little more dazzling than most of us would have liked, I suspect, for a Washington State couple who pulled their car over during a thunderstorm and still got hit by lightning when a bolt ricocheted off a tree and into their rig. The vehicle in question suffered two flat tires and a fried ignition system. The couple were unharmed but, I rather imagine, some thoughtful about such arcane matters as luck, Fate and that ubiquitous and all-encompassing, “sometimes ‘stuff’ just happens.”

This week’s critter story poses a couple of unique demographic/cultural challenges for me because while, on the one hand, it involves a bear, it’s about one “east of the mountains,” as we say here. That’s a term that we use locally to describe that part of Washington state on the eastern side of the Cascade Mountains. In a broader sense, it can include everything up to and including the Atlantic Seaboard.

I have a native Northwesterner’s mixed feelings about people from the East Coast. I admire and respect especially New Yorkers. I have cousins in Flatbush with whom I speak occasionally and while they talk so fast that I have to record them and then play it back at half speed, they suggest, and perhaps rightfully so, that they could retire before I finish a sentence.

On the other hand, considering I can get mugged by a squirrel for a peanut butter sandwich at the Washington State Convention Center and yet never have been bitten, clawed, scratched or really inconvenienced by anything in the Deep Woods or the Seattle suburbs from a cougar to a lost topcutter (lumberjack/timber jockey) on payday Friday night strongly suggests to me that I’d last about 15 seconds on the wild streets of the Big Apple.

That having been said, when 9/11 happened, like much of the rest of the world, I raged, wept and rose up in unmitigated and unqualified admiration for those alleged victims/survivors. There was nothing ‘victim’ about the emergency personnel and the ‘average’ New Yorker to suggest running away or amok with this. They dug out the living, buried the dead, held the requiems, repaired, reinforced and rebuilt. They vowed it would not happen again in their city and it has not.

I’ve spoken with several friends who survived the Blitz bombing of London during World War II and the more recent terrorist attack on their subway system. The most succinct but perhaps profound expression of empathy and identification came from a Manchester-born cabbie who said, “Every once in awhile, I almost feel like inviting a Yank home to tea. As long as he’s not from bloody Boston.” Has he done so yet? I don’t know. I think I knew better than to ask? Eh?

We need to say thanks to the reader from Vancouver, British Columbia who sent us this photo and story about Canada’s preparation for electric transport. The picture portrays what looks like an ordinary gasoline/petrol pump replete with hose and nozzle. Except these are designed to keep engine blocks from freezing during extremely cold weather.

The same 120-volts can be used to recharge hybrids, which only use their motors at low speeds before the engine kicks in, and ‘true’ electrics which only have an electric motor. I’d suggest a term like Canadian Ingenuity and come up with the French equivalent. I am bilingual but I am not fluent in French and I have too much respect for you folks to even make the attempt. However, I still think it’s a good idea and Seattle’s had recharging stations for about as long as we’ve had electric buses.

And definitely under the category of “Just No Pleasing Some Folks,” it appears that some concern has been raised that electric cars are too quiet. I didn’t particularly like the stealth/terrorist lead on this story but this is the New York Times and they do that sometimes. I got passed that quickly and I see some legitimacy to the fear that the blind may not hear them coming or that other ambient noise may totally muffle the noise of, let’s say, a Prius.

Two things bother me about the time and energy involved in this one. Because of the sensory compensation factor, most blind people hear better than those of us with sight. Second of all, if they can put a bell on a bicycle and chirping birds on a crosswalk sign (Seattle), it doesn’t seem like a monumental engineering challenge to put a voice on quiet car.

It also probably wouldn’t hurt most big city pedestrians to pay a little more attention to what’s going on around them in general. Having gotten so lost in thought myself that I almost got broadsided by a Metro bus in rush hour, again, voice of experience suggesting here. It is one thing to focus. It is another to get yelled at by a public transportation driver who can cuss the bark off a birch in three languages. Slow learning curve but I do have one. Sometimes. Nevermind. I digress.

And finally, our gratitude (I think) to the reader who sent us the Crosscut.com article headlined “the many uses of manure”. I’m not quite sure on what or how many levels we’re supposed to take that but it was an interesting read.

Manure’s been used for a long time here to generate gas for heating, etc. but now apparently, the methane itself can be used to generate electricity. Thanks to the Bonnieville Power Administration, electricity in the Pacific Northwest is incredibly cheap so thus far, it hasn’t been cost effective.

However, that could certainly change and this is in keeping with the general trend here toward integrated energy sources. It’s like a spare parachute; nice to have just in case and it might as well be one you either packed yourself or wasn’t packed by an angry spouse or someone who owes you a lot of money.

On that note, that’s it for this week. Take care, stay well, God Bless and thanks once again for the ear.

Rusty


NORTHSTAR RECOMMENDS

The Tomatoman Times – a life commentary blog with the blended stylings of John Steinbeck, Mark Twain, Jack London and Will Rogers. Poignant, at times rancorous but very contemporary and an ultimate celebration.

Vinyl Cafe with Stuart McLean – Live from the smallest record store in North America. Canadian humour, entertainment and commentary at its maple leaf best. Popular on National Public Radio in the States.

Ask Barbie, Advice Columnist. -- a blog that delivers the amiable maternalism of Ms. Landers, the slightly off-centre humour of Erma Bombeck and the ingenuousness of an unreconstructed romantic with no axes to grind.

Sightline Daily (formerly Tidepool) – The United Press International/BBC/CBC/Reuters of the American Northwest. Delivered by email to subscribers and available on their web site, they offer 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. They also put out an excellent weekly environmental edition. And they’re growing.

U Got Style.com – Those of you involved in or aficionados of independent films and the arts in general will totally love this one. The writing is lively, the interviews engaging, the artwork original and occasionally delightfully retro. Definitely worth checking out.

Rusty Miller, Freelance Photojournalist -- Yep, a little shameless self-promotion here to help pay for the blog. Take a look at the services offered menu on my writer-for-hire homepage and samples of my digital lens work on my photography website. If you see something you like, email me and we’ll get together on it.


COMING ATTRACTIONS

In the weeks to come, we’re going to create ~ in addition to Northstar Recommends ~ a Northstar General Store in which you, the readers, will have an opportunity to market your own goods and services and, as well, to shop here. We’re going to get real creative with this and whenever possible, we’ll have tried what we’re carrying on the shelves, as it were. We’ll be taking a straight ten percent for this, via Paypal. We’ll also consider barter and trade.

If you’ve got any recommendations of your own and are interested in the General Store, email me and we’ll talk.

MS(R)M