Aha! That's why!
Some of us who read Son's Arctic Blog this past week saw a mini version of this photo and wondered how come the field biologists' igloo tents aren't attacked by the polar bears. Take a closer look here and you'll see the reason...that looks like electric fencing! I'm interested to find out the source of reliable electricity in ANWR! LOL! Or are those actually bear flares?
Howard is first.
ReplyDeleteHaving just watched Engelbert's show from Belloxy, I venture to suggest that Engelbert is first too.
Sobering news:
ReplyDeleteS&P downgrades US credit rating from AAA to AA
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2011/08/sp-downgrades-us-credit-rating-from-aaa-for-first-time.html
One night this week when I couldn't sleep, I read the Darkover tale - novella or short novel? - The Planet Savers Intriguing and enjoyable story.
ReplyDeleteBTW saw this on Twitter. Had to reanimate my account to follow Engelbert, and snagged a couple of The News Hour's feeds as well.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Renee, for setting up my Twitter account for me all those months ago.
Did I do that? I don't remember. If it was me, you're quite welcome. But I don't want to take credit if it was someone else.
ReplyDeleteIt was definitely you.
ReplyDeletePaul Solomon on the S&P downgrade:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2011/08/sp-downgrades-us-credit-rating-from-aaa-for-first-time.html
Hope this is the right link?
I barely slept last night, so hopefully I'm actually sleepy enough to get some decent sleep.
ReplyDeleteThe external evidence that I'm feeling at least a *bit* calmer today is the fact that Brady felt like he could go on to bed without me. Yesterday he felt compelled to stand at my side, even though he was having one of those days when his butt kept sagging down. Feelings of guilt over his predicament drove me to lie down, even though I wasn't sleepy. I had to signal to him that it was okay to go "off duty".
As soon as I was in bed, I saw him lie down. Then I heard the once startling but now familiar sound of his head going "thunk" as it dropped to the ground. He is SUCH a sweet old guy.
Awww, what a good dog you have!
ReplyDeleteYeah, Cat. We are really sad about the mess, and angry as hornets that the fool Congress let things slide to this point.
ReplyDeleteWouldyoubelieve I only noticed a couple of moments ago that there are gorgeous mountains in that photo out front. I'd been too intently eyeing the bear guards (whatever they're made of) to see beyond the igloo tents! LOL! Am I a mom or what?
ReplyDeleteBTW, the fourth quilt panel has the edging all pinned in place. The plan is to do the edging this weekend and tie them onto the comforter cover on Monday. Photo to follow!
ReplyDeleteSusan...missing you. ♥
ReplyDeleteThat's about next on my Darkover reading list. After finishing a small anthology.
ReplyDeleteSo, apparently Summer is the starvation season for polar bears. They have ice in Winter so they can travel further and find food more easily. But since the ice melts away in Summer now, they are more closely congregated, having to vie for food, and with the ice gone for more weeks than before, they suffer more the longer Summer goes on. So they're getting more hungry as Summer progresses.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/14422118
I gave up on catching up with the blog altogether; I got too far behind. Left some comments on the thread before this one.
ReplyDeleteAlly's color sure looks good--as well as her attitude!
Polar bears are a famous danger on Svalbard.
puddle--we had a phone line that only worked one direction a while back.
Renee--{{hugs}}.
Bill--a pox on the technical definition of a recession. The proportion of the officially unemployed who have been unemployed longer than six months is now higher than its maximum during the Great Depression; the Doug Jones Index is still in the toilet. And the government seems to be repeating the mistakes of 1937. I think we could use another Huey Long about now.
Long hard week at work this past week. But I'll probably survive. Gotta make hay while the sun shines; I've had enough jobs shot out from under me that I am leery of looking crosswise at anything that happens at work. I remember my father's story of having to smile and thank the boss when his pay was cut yet again...
One of our coworkers is leaving; the boss furnished pizza for all, I brought a salad Miyoko made, and folks kicked in for a nice gift card for her. Wonderful person, very good worker. Her husband, who works for BASF, was given a promotion and relocated to the Research Triangle area of North Carolina--where they are both from, no less. We will miss her, but are really happy for her. The lab has been a little overstaffed of late, so I expect everyone will just work harder to make up for her absence. We need more business to justify hiring someone, I think.
TTFN
This guy gets my vote!
ReplyDeletehttp://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2011/08/vilnius-illegal-parking-the-urban-solution.html
Too funny!
ReplyDeleteAlan, I think "ratleys" is a cute way of saying "rats". . . . Sorta like saying garBAGE instead of GARbage. . . . Ratleys in the garden certainly has a nicer ring than Rats in the garden. . . .
ReplyDeleteNineteen comments already. Before my posts. Are we heading for a record?
ReplyDeleteImportant to note that the other two ratings agencies have explicitly kept the US at AAA. Also important to note htat, as mentioned in the Reuters story I saw although not in the News Hour reprot, one factor is that S&P assumes the Republicans will be able to block expiration of the Bush tax cuts. As I mentioined a couple of days ago, I consider that an unlikely scenario.
ReplyDeleteIt's a novel. More or less standard novel length for that era.
ReplyDeleteI didn't care for The Planet Savers that much. It was one of the earliest Darkover stories, as well as one of the first I read. Didn't really get much of a feel for Darkover, and some of what happened appeared arbitrary. (Was there a revised edition? If so, that might account for our differing views.)
Yes, a good dog indeed. And hope you have a good sleep tonight.
ReplyDeleteWhile I noticed the mountains almost first thing. Had to go back and look and look to figure out what maybe you were talking about in your note.
ReplyDeleteDoug Jones index?
ReplyDeleteBill, on the face of it, that does seem unlikely.
ReplyDeleteAt first I was mildly alarmed upon reading the article, but overall am not really all that fussed. As Paul says, S&P's action has long been rumored and, more tellingly, they aren't exactly Teaser's wife. Nor, to a casual observer, would their judgment appear to be particularly sound.
I'll have to see if Audible has an original print pub date along with the audio pub date. They don't always.
ReplyDeleteThe story is a bit thin, which is the main reason I wasn't sure it was a full length novel. There isn't much world building and the romance isn't well developed. But I found the psychological aspect, the premise really I suppose it is, quite interesting. I've always been interested in things the mind can do, powers or abilities it has, that we ordinarily neglect. Besides, the concept seemed vaguely Jungian. Can't remember, but the term "Jungian" may be used at some point.
A good dog and a good, protective friend.
ReplyDeleteHope you can get some sleep♥
Dow Jones?
ReplyDeleteCould be.
ReplyDeleteBig, beautiful storms keep glancing off my little corner. All I've gotten all day are a couple of dust settlers. Poo. We really really really *need* rain.
ReplyDeleteHey. I can't believe it's late afternoon already. Haven't gotten a whole lot done. Still debating with myself about whether I should try to do karaoke tonight or not.
ReplyDeleteIf you have to debate about it, the answer is probably no.
ReplyDeleteAs for me, I haven't gotten anything done today at all, so you're ahead of me there.
After the puppy routed me out of bed at 7:30, I managed to get a nap and/or finish up on the overnight between 11 and 3. That's an accomplishment right there. Not much else.
ReplyDeleteI wondered. But I don't regard the Dow Jones index as in the toilet. Don't see stocks are particular bargins at this point, assuming (contrary to fact) that I had money to play around with.
ReplyDeleteHaven't really gotten anything much done besides e-mail. With Worldcon coming up in a week and a half both the Wroldcon staff list and teh Spokane in 2014 bid list are very active.
ReplyDeleteSo, this girl, Melodie, and some guy named Peter that nobody seems to know won the drawing last night to have dinner with Engelbert. She's over the moon, just bubbling over with excitement. And everybody has been congratulating her, and giving her advice and chatting about her good fortune generally. And it's all great fun. But, there's this one woman. I've noticed her before and don't much like her. She's, well, coarse. The things she says are funny, but vulgar too, and not exactly respectful towards Engelbert. I feel guilty laughing.
ReplyDeletePuddle and listener, you know how on FB there's the little X in the corner of each comment in a thread? I clicked this, thinking it would let me hide her comments. But, instead, a mini menu popped up, allowing me to mark the comment as spam or as abuse. Her comments aren't spam; they're ontopic. And they aren't abuse, really. No one else has told her that she's coarse and out of line,, and like I say she is funny, in a vulgar way.
Guess what I'm really asking, since after all I am a bit naive and earnest and dull, is ought I simply to ignore this woman, or ought I to tell her, privately rather than in front of the group, that I don't like her mouth? It's not my group, but I know that the lady who started it doesn't like disrespect towards Engelbert any more than I do. Or, am I just being a prude and a square?
Don't know about prude or square. I'd take the option of hiding it on your feed, but not reporting it as spam or abuse. Prolly no point in telling her: if she were sensitive to that kind of pov, she wouldn't be doing what she is. . . .
ReplyDeleteWell, I don't know Facebook. But my feeling in general is that you need to cut people some slick for individual differences.
ReplyDeleteIt's a little more complex than that, Cat. I often manage to talk myself out of water aerobics, but when I actually make myself go, I'm almost always glad I did. I usually end up having at least a LITTLE burst of focus and motivation. No guarantees about how long that will last, or what I'll be able to do with it.
ReplyDeleteI *don't* currently have much focus or motivation, so I'm not putting my sentences together as effortlessly as I wish I could.
Karaoke is kind of hit or miss. If I can think of what I wanted to say about that, I'll come back to it.
Standard & Poors pretty much said if we want the triple A back, we need to get some income. . . . The TwoA+ seems like it would cost us more than we "saved" in the deal.
ReplyDeleteI had heard of Hightower, but not of his Doug Jones average. Yeah. Although the Doug Jones average is marginally better than it was two years ago, it is still way down compared to most of the past half-century.
ReplyDeleteRenee, I do in fact understand the circularity of motivation and focus. When you - or I - have it, it feeds nicely on itself. When we don't have it, the lack feeds on itself. I'm sort of self destructive that way. Recognize and sometimes lament the need to kick myself in the arss and *do* something, but seldom manage that feat. You're much better than I am in that way.
ReplyDeleteYou guys are probably both right.
ReplyDeleteMaybe she's not so bad after all. She "liked" one of my more airy fairy comments. I'll put up with her for now. Hiding people on your feed, then you don't know what other people are responding to...
Income? Like, as in revenue? Like, as in T A X E S?
ReplyDelete--Rant Alert --
You know, the Republicans kill me. They want wars but they don't fight them and they cut, cut, cut benefits and services for veterans. They want balanced budgets and this and that, but it never occurs to them that if corporations and millionaires and billionaires paid their fair share in taxes, there'd probably be running budget surpluses. Paying your way is grownup, responsible and patriotic. Not paying your way is called sponging. It has generally been considered ignoble until the Republicans turned it into some sort of goal to be striven for, some sort of unalienable right. They seem to think that just saying "I'm a patriot" makes it true. John Adams and John Hancock and Patrick Henry wouldn't recognize these nincompoops as patriots, but for what they are, cowardly, bragging blowhards who have never meaningfully served their country or their God or anything or anyone else except their own narrow, shortsighted self-interest.
End of rant
*GOOD* rant, Cat, lol! Really good.
ReplyDeleteIt's completely up to you. I have blocked only two people...and just so you know, you always have the option of unblocking them. But hiding individual comments is a gentler way to go, at least on a difficult evening. And, if this woman has a brash mouth, chances are telling her so, even very nicely, will not stop her ways and may also make your situation worse. You can't change others, but you can change how you interact with them.
ReplyDeleteJust popping by, really. No time. I feel like the White Rabbit in Alice in Wonderland.
ReplyDeleteOff to edge the quilt.
Quilting mercies!
ReplyDeleteI have one of his books--"There's Nothing in the Middle of the Road Except Yellow Stripes and Dead Armadillos."
ReplyDeleteYes. The Republican Party has become thoroughly irresponsible during my lifetime; the old guard has been diminished by the passage of time and been replaced by the moderate lunatic fringe. I think we could use a good center-left party in this country, and that part of the political spectrum seems to have been up for grabs for some time now.
ReplyDeleteI thought that was Molly Ivens, maybe not the title of one of her books, but I know Mum read that sentence to me out of one of her books. And, as a sentiment, it's spot on!
ReplyDelete30 elite Navy Seals killed in Afghanistan as Taliban shoots down helicopter.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-14430735
Thanks. Ahem.
ReplyDeleteA few years back, when I was going for physical therapy regularly, my PT asked me one day if I'd ever considered running for public office. I was one surprised Cat! I told him the truth, that I thought a lot about it as a kid, but eventually came to the conclusion that I wouldn't be good at it. Also, Politics is not a respectable profession.
Now, if I could work out how to get paid for ranting, that would be a racket I could dig. 8)
Much appreciated!
ReplyDeleteAnd, hey! We made it to the second page again!!
Hi, listener. Bye, listener.
ReplyDeleteSpeech writer, perhaps?
ReplyDeleteNo time to say hallo, goodbye!
ReplyDeleteHad a nice little get-together with the departing couple at a local brew pub cum restaurant. Hubby is an entomologist, moving from field work to more of a managerial position. Chatting with him about agriculture in the North Carolina Piedmont, I was rather surprised by the small number of crops (but darn near anything grows around here except for tropical fruits).
ReplyDeleteStarting to work cleaning my slide rules--starting with my old aluminum one. I damaged it by putting it into a plastic bag years ago--where the bag touched the rule it blistered the paint in one spot. It is still functional, and I am sure it will work as well as look better once it is cleaned. Next will be a plastic rule. Starting with just simple dishwashing detergent in water.
This proves the GOP too twisted
ReplyDeletehttp://news.yahoo.com/gop-candidates-slam-obama-reaction-p-downgrade-033034969.html
Okay, got my needle threaded. L8tr....
ReplyDeleteWe're onto the second page!
ReplyDeleteBrady in the kitchen--an increasingly common sight. I've discovered, since taking this picture a month ago, that if I find him lying down in the kitchen, it means he's collapsed there and hasn't worked up the energy to get back up.
ReplyDeletelistener, good idear. Something to think about, anyway.
ReplyDeleteAlan, isn't that the niche the Green Party was supposed to fill?
ReplyDeleteTheoretically, yes; and in Germany I believe it does.
ReplyDeleteAwww, what a sweet dog!!!
ReplyDeleteRenee, how did you imbed a photo here?!