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8月28日 How could this happen??? The news here is filled with the girl who was abducted at age 11 and was found these 18 years later. The whole thing horrifies me. Apparently this girl was the mother of TWO daughters after being raped and kidnapped by the guy (and his WIFE) those 18 years ago. She and her girls lived in tents in their backyard and no one knew what was going on. This guy was in business making computer signs and several of his customers saw the girl and thought nothing of it. When asked years ago about schooling, they insisted she was home-schooled. This guy insisted that the Devil made him do it (no really) and his wife insisted her husband made her go along with it. Since this guy had a record of previous rape and had served time, he was visited by his parole officer several times over the years and NEVER was suspect of this girl???? that just appearred there???? Even the neighbors were suspicious of him and his weird ways.
I sincerely hope they throw the book at this guy and his wife and NEVER let them out again. It is all just too sad to think about it happening again. I'm sure the poor girl will now have to deal with the curious press and relive all this over and over. I hope they will leave her alone---I noticed that her current picture has NOT been released to the press. Thank goodness!
There. That was my rant for the week. Thanks for listening. Let's all vow to speak up when we see things that are NOT right going on around us---it could make a big difference... 4月14日 Tweaky toilet... Just came across this interesting article from 1945 and had to laugh, well, chuckle about it:
April 14, 1945: Tweaky Toilet Costs Skipper His Sub 1945: A malfunctioning high-tech toilet forces a German U-boat to the surface off the coast of Scotland, where it is promptly attacked by a British aircraft. The boat is scuttled as the crew abandons ship. U-1206, sailing out of Kristiansand, Norway as part of the 11th Flotilla, was cruising at a depth of roughly 200 feet when the commander, Kapitänleutnant Karl-Adolf Schlitt, decided to answer the call of nature. The submarine was a late-war Type VIIC, commissioned in March 1944. It carried a new type of toilet designed for use at greater depths. Like a lot of new technology, the toilet was just a little buggy. Schlitt had trouble operating it. When he called an engineer for help, the man opened the wrong valve, allowing seawater to enter the boat. When the water reached the batteries located beneath the toilet, the boat began filling with chlorine gas, forcing Schlitt to order U-1206 surfaced. Unfortunately for the Germans, the boat was only 10 miles off the Scottish coast, and it was quickly spotted by the British. The crew was still blowing clean air into their U-boat when an aircraft appeared and attacked, killing four men on deck and damaging the boat so badly that it was unable to dive. Schlitt, seeing the game was up, gave the order to abandon and scuttle. It was an ignominious end to Schlitt's only combat patrol of the war as a commander — although, less than a month later, most of his U-boat comrades had joined him in captivity, as World War II came to an end in Europe. As for U-1206, its wreck lay undisturbed until the mid-1970s, when workers laying an underwater oil pipeline came across the hulk sprawled on the seabed at 230 feet. I'll bet that whoever lived through that is embarassed to tell their WW2 tale of the toilet to this day! I guess this sub, which is a duplicate of the original, is a museum today in Germany. So interesting, don't you think? 10月25日 a WHAT IF you may probably didn't consider....National law fixes Election Day, but a patchwork of state laws regulates ballot access and counting. Most states would allow the national parties to designate new candidates; but in some election-eve scenarios, there might not be time for parties to deliberate properly before America votes. New ballots would need to be printed and absentee ballots revised. All this takes time. Suppose that Smith is running for president with Jones as his vice-presidential running mate. If Smith dies in early November, will a vote for the Smith-Jones ticket be counted as, in effect, a vote for Jones as president? Under current statutes, precedents, and party policies, the issue is far from clear—but voters are entitled to know the answers before they cast their votes. Moreover, under current law in many states, if 46 percent vote for Smith/Jones and 5 percent write in Jones, election officials would not add these votes together. Jones might lose the state even though 51 percent of the voters clearly picked him. This oddity arises because many states count votes by presidential/vice presidential ticket rather than directly by presidential candidate. There are many other things that could happen and there are not enough laws to dictate what the situation would call for legally. It seems like it's up to the individual States to determine what to do. That's just not right--for a Federal election. It you want to read more, check out this site---it's the ONLY one that I found that explains it. When the question struck me, the first thing that occured to me was that it would make a great story! Ha! I guess that's the writer in me! If I were more politically minded, I probably would consider writing one, but I'm politiced out right now. But who knows? I may HAVE to write it eventually. Hmmm. Maybe a nice short story.... 10月19日 CA Prop. 2 re animal confinementProposition 2, or the Standards for Confining Farm Animals, will appear on the November 2008 ballot in California. If it passes, it will create a new state statute that prohibits the confinement of farm animals in a manner that does not allow them to turn around freely, lie down, stand up, and fully extend their limbs. Voters in other states have voted to eliminate calf and pig crates, but Proposition 2 in California in 2008 is the first time voters will have been asked to eliminate the practice of confining chickens in battery (small, confining) cages. The hotly-contested battle over the proposition has led to both an hour-long Oprah show airing on October 14 and, through September 30, $14 million raised by the two sides of the issue. Some other things you may not know about the situation here are:
It is just WRONG to treat animals like they have been treated in the name of food. Makes me lean more and more towards being a vegetarian! Hope you will view the following video from U-Tube and take it to heart. 5月6日 New Solar Plant in SpainHere is an interesting article that came through my mail today. There IS hope that other power sources will help harness energy in our immediate future:
    Power station harnesses Sun's rays
There is a scene in one of the Austin Powers films where Dr Evil unleashes a giant "tractor beam" of energy at Earth in order to extract a massive payment.
Well, the memory of it kept me chuckling as I toured the extraordinary scene of the new solar thermal power plant outside Seville in southern Spain. From a distance, as we rounded a bend and first caught sight of it, I couldn't believe the strange structure ahead of me was actually real. A concrete tower - 40 storeys high - stood bathed in intense white light, a totally bizarre image in the depths of the Andalusian countryside. The tower looked like it was being hosed with giant sprays of water or was somehow being squirted with jets of pale gas. I had trouble working it out. In fact, as we found out when we got closer, the rays of sunlight reflected by a field of 600 huge mirrors are so intense they illuminate the water vapour and dust hanging in the air. The effect is to give the whole place a glow - even an aura - and if you're concerned about climate change that may well be deserved. It is Europe's first commercially operating power station using the Sun's energy this way and at the moment its operator, Solucar, proudly claims that it generates 11 Megawatts (MW) of electricity without emitting a single puff of greenhouse gas. This current figure is enough to power up to 6,000 homes.
But ultimately, the entire plant should generate as much power as is used by the 600,000 people of Seville. It works by focusing the reflected rays on one location, turning water into steam and then blasting it into turbines to generate power. As I climbed out of the car, I could hardly open my eyes - the scene was far too bright. Gradually, though, shielded by sunglasses, I made out the rows of mirrors (each 120 sq m in size) and the focus of their reflected beams - a collection of water pipes at the top of the tower. It was probably the heat that did it, but I found myself making the long journey up to the very top - to the heart of the solar inferno. A lift took me most of the way but cameraman Duncan Stone and I had to climb the last four storeys by ladder. We could soon feel the heat, despite thick insulation around the boiler.
It was like being in a sauna and for the last stages the metal rungs of the ladders were scalding. But our reward was the cool breeze at the top of the tower - and the staggering sight of a blaze of light heading our way from down below. So far, only one field of mirrors is working. But to one side I could see the bulldozers at work clearing a second, larger field - thousands more mirrors will be installed. Letting off steam I met one of the gurus of solar thermal power, Michael Geyer, an international director of the energy giant Abengoa, which owns the plant. He is ready with answers to all the tricky questions. What happens when the Sun goes down? Enough heat can be stored in the form of steam to allow generation after dark - only for an hour now but maybe longer in future. Anyway, the solar power is most needed in the heat of summer when air conditioners are working flat out. Is it true that this power is three times more expensive than power from conventional sources? Yes, but prices will fall, as they have with wind power, as the technologies develop. Also, a more realistic comparison is with the cost of generating power from coal or gas only at times of peak demand - then this solar system seems more attractive. The vision is of the sun-blessed lands of the Mediterranean - even the Sahara desert - being carpeted with systems like this with the power cabled to the drizzlier lands of northern Europe. A dazzling idea in a dazzling location.
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