Wednesday, August 05, 2015

45 LIFE LESSONS, WRITTEN BY A 90 YEAR OLD

Awesome Quotes: 45 LIFE LESSONS, WRITTEN BY A 90 YEAR OLD: 1. Life isn’t fair, but it’s still good. 2. When in doubt, just take the next small step. 3. Life is too short not to enjoy it. 4...

Tuesday, August 04, 2015

Listen and Learn

One of the few intelligent Senators from my home state of Massachusetts, Elizabeth Warren. Listen and learn



Monday, August 03, 2015

Sweet Home.......



a lovely piece about why coastal Southeast Louisiana is my home:
Great tourist info at this link.

excerpt:
Written by Kimberly Lovato



All week I’ve been trying to pinpoint what it is about this place that intrigues me. I finally recognize it’s not one single thing. It’s the harmony and counterbalance of all of it — the history, tradition, culture and wetlands — that are by turns resilient and endangered, and held together by deep yet fragile roots.

It’s difficult to see, even harder to explain, but I feel it everywhere.

It’s a little lagniappe I’ll take with me when I go, one I hope still exists when I return.


Katrina's aftermath - Gulf Coast

With the ten year anniversary of Katrina coming up on later this month, I'll be sharing videos of her destruction.


Thanks to Alex North, Mississippi Gulf Coast photographer for this beautiful picture


Katrina hit the Gulf Coast head on. Here's a look at the aftermath

Monday Morning Smile

Saturday, August 01, 2015

Mesmerizing

People who know less always ask why we're spending "so much money" in Space exploration.

Let the money go to homeless, etc.

While I agree in spending more money in domestic issues, I think the system has to change wherein the money GOES to the less fortunate instead of "administrative costs".

But I digress.

Check out this video presented my my ex-employer, NASA (actually, I worked for a NASA subcontractor).

From Youtube user MadHatter: We've all seen images of extreme weather from space. But none of those could prepare us for this video just released by NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio. Using real data, this simulation's volume-rendered clouds depict seven days in 2005 when a category-4 typhoon developed off the coast of China.

Enjoy:

Tuesday, July 28, 2015

The Lion Killer

By now, most of social media is aware of the actions of rich American dentist Dr. Walter "Cecil killer" Palmer.

This bastard is a "sports hunter". That is, he kills wild animals for the fun of it.

On July first of this year, Dr. Palmer hired some Zimbabwe locals to find and murder a lion. Little did he know - so he says - his guides pointed him to Cecil, a thirteen year old head of a pride and a local animal celebrity in Zimbabwe.

Now, Cecil lived in a sanctuary and was collared, i.e. should not have been bait for this son of a bitch sports hunting celebrity.

They lured Cecil out of the sanctuary, hit him with a bow and waited 1/2 of a day to finally shoot, skin and behead the cat. I am sickend.

All persons implicated in this case are due to appear in court facing poaching charges.

Both the professional hunter and land owner had no permit or quota to justify the offtake of the lion and therefore are liable for the illegal hunt.


I am sickened

Lions are either hunted but hanging a animal carcass from a tree as bait and then laying in wait or by stalking and luring out of the park. Bow hunting is on the rise because of it's silence. Those hunting illegally (or as the Telegraph puts it "unethically') can go undetected because of the silence.

Because of the actions of these men, Zimbabwe (and lions) lost an ambassador.Cecil was the most popular and seemed to have no problem with human contact, never bothering anybody. Zimbabwe lost a tourist attraction, conservationists lost another tagged lion in their study,

According to figures published by National Geographic, 34 of their 62 tagged lions died during the study period – 24 were shot by sport hunters. - The Telegraph

.....and several cubs will lose if they haven't already, lost their lives as the new male lion takes over the pride.

Dr. Walter "Cecil killer" Palmer, is a dentist up in Bloomington, Minnesota. Before his company's (River Bluff Dental) website was taken down (probably due to the controversy and now his international infamy) it told where to find him when he wasn't in the office.
May he and other "sports hunters" get their due payback.

Monday, July 27, 2015

Police Brutality

With the availibility of new technology changing every day, we are seeing more and more cases of police brutality. I'm going to be sharing the videos when I can


From Slate.com: Recently released video from police body cameras shows how an officer in Fredericksburg, Virginia used a Taser and pepper-sprayed a man who was suffering from a medical emergency on May 4. Fredericksburg police officer Shaun Jergens resigned on May 14 although he insists he did nothing wrong. Jergens was one of three officers who responded to calls of a hit and run driver going the wrong way down a street. David Washington, 34, was driving a Hyundai that hit a jeep before stopping in the middle of an intersection, reports WTOP. When the officers arrive they demand Washington put his hands up but the driver is nearly motionless and does not say anything. “Get out of the car or I’m going to fucking smoke you,” Jurgens says at one point. Jurgens then draws his Taser before using a huge amount of pepper spray on Washington’s face. The way in which Washington barely reacted to such a large amount of pepper spray should have maybe been a hint that something was wrong. But another officer proceeds to yank Washington to the pavement and at that point he can be heard moaning. “I can’t breathe,” he says before telling the officers he has been sick for days and doesn’t know what’s wrong. He was later taken to the hospital and sources tell the Fredericksburg Free-Lance Star that Washington “had a massive stroke and was treated in the intensive care unit.” Charges have been filed against Washington for hit and run, reckless driving and driving on a revoked license.

Monday Morning Smile

Been there, done that!!!



The SCOTUS Women

Women of the Supreme Court just did what far too many elected officials have failed to do: they stood up to Trump’s MAGA regime and called b...