Flowers

Flowers themselves are works of art it is easy to to take fine photographs of them.

Community

We are by nature and genetically tribal creatures. A sense of community has always been important. In our urban and technological environment we have lost much of that. I live in a suburb of Portland, Oregon and rarely see any of my neighbors. Christopher Ingraham of the Washington Post wrote an article on the worst counties…

Unable And Unfit To Govern

Over at Slate William Saletan documents how the debate on the Iran nuclear deal prove that the today's Republican party is unable and unfit to govern. I'm not going to do any copy and paste so go to the link to read it. We have a few things going on here and if you were to…

Death Panels, End of Life Treatment and the Quality of Life

From a really personal point of view this article jumped right out at me. A new study finds that, at least in cancer, there's a very real medical reason to consider giving less treatment at the end of life: chemotherapy doesn't improve dying patients' quality of life. In fact, for those terminal cancer patients who were…

Hell on Earth

At 69 I like most of the people alive I have lived with the threat of nuclear weapons all of my life. Less than 10 months before I was born the first nuclear weapon was detonated in New Mexico. It was code named Trinity. The light of a nuclear explosion is unlike anything else on Earth.…

The Warrior Class

On this Memorial Day the LA Times has an eyeopening article on the the relationship between members of the military and the civilian population. When my father served during WWII there were few who were not involved in the effort. Everyone knew someone who was serving. When I served in the military during the Vietnam war…

Seven Key Takeaways From Eric Cantor’s Shocking Defeat

Seven Key Takeaways From Eric Cantor’s Shocking Defeat (via Moyers & Company)

No incumbent majority leader had lost a seat in Congress since 1899, when the post was first created. Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) broke that streak last night. He’s announced that he’ll step down from leadership within weeks. Cantor’s stunning defeat…

 

More Weekend Fun Facts

More Weekend Fun Facts (via The Moderate Voice)

‘Biggest dinosaur ever’ discovered Based on its huge thigh bones, it was 40m (130ft) long and 20m (65ft) tall. Weighing in at 77 tonnes, it was as heavy as 14 African elephants, and seven tonnes heavier than the previous record holder, Argentinosaurus…

 

Weekend Fun Facts - The Kennewick Man

Weekend Fun Facts -The Kennewick Man (via The Moderate Voice)

I attended University from 1964 through 1968.  I took classes in geology – plate tectonics was considered ti be a crazy fringe theory, it’s now accepted fact.  I took physics classes, mostly Newtonian with lots a math a formulas – modern physics…

 

Mt St Helens

Mt Saint Helens (via The Moderate Voice)

It has been 34 years since Mt St Helens erupted .  I don’t have much to add to the post I did on the 25th anniversary but it did bring me in contact with Bob Kasewater’s sister who helped me through my caregiver responsibilities when my mother…