Category: Random issues

Item #1: Up the tree.
This is a variation of “Up the creek without a paddle.”
Location is on the south coast of Great Britain, north of the Isle of Wight and Solent Strait, and between Southhampton and Portsmouth. The area at Portsmouth has been occupied since Roman times, was the greatest naval port at the height of the British Empire, and the first ever place to set up a production line (to make pulley blocks), and thus makes this the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution.
See: Portsmouth Block Mills

One would expect to find smart and resourceful folks in a setting like this. The young lady, Maria Parry, of this story didn’t get the message. Harry, her tabby cat went up a tree. You should be able to guess the rest.

Where’s the lady?

Item #2: In her spare time
Claudia Weber is from the Bavarian countryside town of Moosburg, along the River Isar, 25 miles northeast of Munich.
She works in Munich, and that became the source of her creation – a knitted scarf.
Public transportation doesn’t always run on time. Claudia responded with a “rail-delay-scarf” or in German – Bahn-Verspätungsschal.
scarf of many colors

After a year the scarf grew to over four feet long, with each color indicating a delay of a different length. It was sold on Ebay to raise money for a charity.

Item #3: Super blood wolf moon
There will be a total Lunar eclipse this weekend. To unpack the verbage, “wolf” indicates a January happening, “blood” means it will have a red or copper color tint; and “super” means the size of the moon will be larger than average.
The next one will be Jan. 31, 2037. I’ll be 93 and will toddle out in my slippers to view it. Seriously!
Most of the U. S. is going to have rain, snow, or just plain old clouds. Oh well.
On the bright side, many Lunar eclipses (and there are lots of them) put on similar shows, so this really isn’t a big deal.

Item #4: This seems odd
21% of Canadians won’t go outdoors if there’s no Internet.
I assume this is mostly about cell-phone reception, but the report wasn’t clear.

Item #5: Vaccines by Drone

This comes from a small island in the nation of Vanuatu.
It’s a story that makes me think of the science fiction write Arthur C. Clarke. {2001: A Space Odyssey, and much more}
There is Clarke’s 3rd law: “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”
In the photo (from a video), a white drone magically delivers vaccines to a place called Cook’s Bay, a small, scattered community that does not have a health center or electricity, and is only accessible by foot or small local boats.

In the previous comment, Canadians won’t go outdoors. The folks in Cook’s Bay might find going into a Toronto skyscraper equally daunting. They do have simple frame houses, but they live, work, and play outside. This story claims locals sometimes have to walk for days to receive medical necessities.
That’s where the modern technology of a drone enters the scene.

Swoop Aero drone delivers

Item #6: Can you swear like a sailor?
Over the past couple of weeks there have been foul expressions used by women in Congress that my mother would not have approved of. As well, it appears some other folks are not too happy with this.
And that, for this week, is the not so nasty news.
John

Item #1: Calvin and Hobbes
The story of C & H

This is about a book about the comic strip and its author. I have looked at many of the strips, but never knew the history. It was published for 10 years, then stopped. Worth a read.
The creator of C & H, Bill Watterson, showed that when Calvin looked at Hobbes he saw a six foot tall tiger. It was not a play-thing, but a real talking tiger.

Item #2: She survived
“We will not stop until we find out the cause.”

This story has two videos: 1 is the fall, repeated several times; 2 is the clean-up.

Item #3: Got coffee?
Make art. I’m not looking for a hobby. You might be, so think of using other liquids with or instead of coffee. Colors might be nice. Natural pigments often fade with time. Expect to do some experimentation.
The image here is of white blocks with the image on the surface. The main one has an outline of Washington State overlain with two trees.
Within the text there is a link to his site ‘Coffee on Canvas’.

Item #4: Got chickens?
Central Saanich is the area, north of Victoria, B.C. where you will also find the Butchart Gardens, a much visited tourist attraction. Being a “central” place, there must be others, and in fact there is an entire Saanich Peninsula. Apparently this is the region that certain native people consider to be where they emerged, that being the meaning of the word Saanich. It is a very nice place, and if I emerged there I’d likely still be there.
With European settlement, the district began as a farming community, and many hobby farms, along with a handful of small working farms and vineyards, still exist. In recent decades, the area has seen increasingly residential development.
Perhaps this helps explain why there is a flock of 60 or so chickens with origin unknown, running around and laying a few eggs. The news article ends with the hypothesis that the hens are past their prime, and were turned loose because the owner did not want to deal with them.
I’ll guess this question will be resolved.
Eggs in Central Saanich

Item #5: Got snow?
We have snow on the ground but none in the forecast. Maybe a week from now that will change. With the ground cold and the air cooling at night, we get fog. This isn’t serious “don’t drive” sort of fog, but it seems to make the temperature “feel” a lot colder.
Central Europe just got a load of snow. I sometimes exchange info with a person from England. He went to Austria and is now stranded in a ski-town. Claims there is plenty of Apple Strudel so he wasn’t complaining.
Meanwhile, back in the States, air in the western plains seems to be getting set to send storms from western Missouri to the Appalachians and the eastern coast. Some of this is fairly far south and will cause a mess if the snow depths are near the high side.
We lived in Cincinnati during two winters. I think it was the end of January storm ( 1967 Blizzard ) that I remember. This report is from Chicago where 16.4 inches fell in one day. In Cincy we got 10 inches. Cincy did not have the plows, trucks, and crews to deal with snow. People abandoned vehicles in the middle of streets. Having come from a small town where snow was expected, the small town hardly slowed down. Cincy was shut down.
So, for any in the path – Got Apple Strudel?

And that, for this week, is the not so nasty news.
John

Going to a New Year’s Eve party without wearing a tracking device is just asking for trouble.

Item #1: Images
This just out:
People who drink moderate amounts of alcohol or coffee live longer than those who abstain. The study also found that people who were overweight in their 70s lived longer than underweight folks. The bad news is that living past 90 is bad for your health.

Item #2: Images
An ad with a dog, shows a Boxer running from left to right and
launching into a Christmas tree. Note the red base. After the tree – with base – is flattened, the dog wanders off and comes back dragging a 2nd (?) tree without a base. My first question was, How did they get the dog to jump up and into the tree? Tree bases usually are filled with water. This one isn’t. And did they use two trees, or just one? And which was filmed first, the one knocking over the tree, or the dragging of the tree?
Ad failed. I don’t even know what they were selling.

Item #3: Are you subpar?

The photo shows a metal cabinet for storing liquids that can catch fire. Note the top word is “flammable” and the next word is “inflamable” with 1 ‘M’. Then next, with 2 ‘Ms’ and below all that is (in black) the first spelling again.
The problem isn’t with the cabinet maker, but with the general population. Words can be tricky.

Another example: If you are “earthbound” are you a space traveler heading toward Earth, or are you on Earth’s surface and stuck there?
Or consider “subpar.” If you are playing golf, that’s a good thing. If it is your pay-scale, that’s not so good. If someone or something is “sanctioned” – is that good (approved) or bad (penalized)?

This issue arose this week when a politician in England “tabled” [presented for formal deliberation] a motion in Parliament. In the Congress of the USA, to table a motion means it will not be deliberated, not soon, and maybe not ever.

You can read all about this stuff, here: Dueling meanings

Item #4: Zeya and Ila

I’ve mentioned the Seattle Woodland Park Zoo’s Red Pandas. The latest is that they went for a bit of an unplanned romp that the news describes as an escape. That is a stretch, but it is a fun story.
Escape !

Item #5: For folks that like animal stories

from Canada, 2018

Item #5: A Sun story
The year ends with no Sun Spots.
However, there was a hole in the sun’s atmosphere that allowed a stream of solar wind to head Earth’s way, and is expected to buffet Earth’s magnetic field for the next 24 hours. There may be more auroras.
The solar wind is a stream of charged particles. No danger

And that, for this year, is the not so nasty news.
John

Item #1: A big tree story
Not many trees get as tall as this one. Story: Centurion
Eucalyptus regnans Link is a flowering evergreen and a hardwood tree.The one pictured is the tallest one alive, although one that had died and fallen was much taller.
It looks healthy, so I will report back every 10 years until it falls.

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Item #2: Where not to build a house

Just about everyone has heard of the white cliffs of dover. Some folks have actually seen these bright white cliffs of marine chalk. [ Link ].
Along the same coast, but 40 miles west, is a related exposure of white cliff, but less high. Being between the cliff and the Strait of Dover is hard to pass up.
Rock cliffs do have the unfortunate character of breaking into chunks and falling. A person could get hurt.
Not this time
Homeless is better than dead, so that’s the good news.

Item #3: Can you smell chlorine?
Say you have an old town with lots of old pipes. How do you find the leaks?
We’ve been associating with bird dogs for a long time. Brother Kenny got one when I was still in high school. Nancy and I have seen all sorts of birddogs in action. Obviously if you need something sniffed out, you need a dog. Here is the story of a Springer Spaniel that helps find water leaks.
the nose knows

Item #4: another tree story

Bosco Verticale

Use Google Earth or something similar and search: Bosco Verticale

Well, again, I’d like to keep track of this operation every few years to see how things work out. Can you think of anything that could go wrong? There is the adage: Murphy’s Law – “Anything that can go wrong will go wrong”. {While Murphy is out of town.}

Item #5: Seems a bit too large

And that, for this week, is the not so nasty news.
John

Item #1: Wind and fir trees

QUILCENE, WA, just west of Seattle, had rain and wind. This storm tapped into tropical moisture, bringing as much as 3-7 inches of rain to the Olympic Mountains and North Cascades. Usually trees fall on electric lines and/or houses.
Buick lost the battle With a gallery of 12 photos.
One image shows the tree broke and the upper part is near the back end of the car. Maybe the moving car carried the other section forward.
Taller trees are more susceptible to the “lever” action whereby the force of the wind at the top gets carried to the roots. Firs concentrate their foliage on the top of the tree sticking up and out above other trees, so catch the wind and act as even larger levers. They are shallow rooted.
Note the lack of branches in any of the photos. One shows where the roots (or lack of) came out of the ground. This tree appears to have a larger diameter trunk than its nearby mates, so likely did stick up above them – into the wind.

Item #2: To leak and groan
The photo of the church has nothing to do with this story.

How are your pipes?

Adelaide’s pipes, all 3,209 of them, were sent to England for repair of the leaking and groaning. Each pipe was washed, re-leathered and tuned individually by ear.
I hope I never have to be re-leathered.

Item #3: briefs & rabbits
Nancy was looking at an ad from a local store that had underwear on sale. Did we need any?
Just then a story from Hobart, Tasmania (TAS) was one of the headlines on my computer screen.

Hobart’s Risdon Prison, report

Hobart faces Antarctica across 1,700 miles of cold ocean. One has to traverse Storm Bay first, but it is often cool, rainy, and windy in the region.
The main prison in TAS is located near the small community of Risdon Vale. It has a good environment for rabbits but, apparently, not for underwear.
“Only two pairs … this appears inadequate and, as a minimum, standard clothing issue should be at least four pairs …”
Also, there is this: “rabbits appear to be in plague proportions and are present in numbers sufficient to be noticed at all times of the day …”

An easy solution to these problems is shown here:
What’s not to like?

Item #4: And not a moment too soon

a ban of mandatory high heels
The changes will take effect Jan. 1, 2019; in the Province of Alberta.
This seems to be a big issue in the U.K. and Canada but don’t know that it has been in the USA.
When we were at the University of Idaho a new dean was hired. Likely he had never traveled west of Michigan, his then place of employment. During his early days at UI he wanted the folks in Mining, Geology, and Geography to wear dress shoes, instead of western (cowboy) boots.
That did not work well. After this was announced, folks that had not worn western boots began wearing them. A bunch of miscreants, we were.

And that, for this week, is the not so nasty news.
John