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Greetings, Quotaholics:
Nuclear energy is supposedly safe. We have been told that it is despite
the disaster at Chernobyl many years ago. That was in the USSR and in
the more industrialized nations there was not the same risk.
There is no more technologically savvy nation than Japan. Talking about
the country brings technology and gadgets to mind. Certainly, if there
is one nation on Earth that would be aware of the dangers of a nuclear
explosion, it would have to be Japan. And yet, Fukushima has become
a noun for nuclear disaster, far greater than Chernobyl could have been.
Even now, there are more new after effects and the disaster keeps making
the news as the world watches and learns about the failure of safety
features.
In the US, we have opportunities for all sorts of disasters. Being a
rather large country and with many different climates and ecosystems,
we have our share of disasters. We can have hurricanes and blizzards,
ice storms and fires, drought and flooding. And sometimes, we can have
just about all of these disasters at the same time.
Right now we are faced with both fire and water. There are raging fires
in New Mexico. Fires are approaching Los Alamos and most of the city’s
residents have been evacuated. Strong winds are making the containment
of the fire more problematic, according to NPR.
One of the concerns is that Los Alamos is where the US first made an
atomic bomb. Tech Area 49 is also where much of the early 1960s underground
tests for atomic explosives was carried out. And causing more concern
is the dumpsite where up to 30,000 55-gallon drums of plutonium-contaminated
waste are stored. These drums are awaiting transport to a southern New
Mexico dump site.
Los Alamos declined to say whether there were waste drums on site, but
did say if they were, they would be in Area G. Authorities are saying
if they were there, they would be safe because that area is miles from
the flames. “These drums are designed to a safety standard that would
withstand a wildland fire worse than this one,” said Lisa Rosendorf,
a lab spokesperson.
Locals are “confident” that the fire will be contained and all this
nuclear waste will be safe.
Meanwhile, in Nebraska,
authorities are telling us all that the two nuclear power plants that
are being threatened by flood waters are safe.
The Missouri River has flooded and one plant is surrounded by these
flood waters. Both plants have been opened up to federal regulators
and the media this past week.
The Fort Calhoun workers have been forced to install catwalks to access
the facility. Authorities are claiming “There is no possibility of a
meltdown.” These authorities are reminding us all that the floodwaters
are outside the plant, not inside. This is the same Fort Calhoun Nuclear
Plant that Bruce wrote about on June
20.
I am reminded of the Japanese response to the Fukushima power plant’s
problems. Everything was under control. Everything was going well. There
was no melt down. There was no problem. There was, all of a sudden,
a huge problem.
I am unsure of how denying the existence of a problem helps in any situation.
Perhaps things are really going smoothly and there will be no big problem
after the fire passes and the flood waters recede. Perhaps.
But in light of recent events, it is more and more difficult to believe
those in authority when they try to calm the masses.
Since we are an energy driven society, what are we to do? What can we
do to create the energy we so desperately need? Should we abandon nuclear
energy? Is there some way to make this truly a safe source or is Mother
Nature just too tricky?
There are many alternate sources of energy, one of them the Marshall
Hydrothermal Recovery System - developed and patented by Bruce.
What are your thoughts on various alternative energy sources? Do you
believe we can trust either the authorities, the government, or the
media to let us know what is really happening amidst the flames and
the floods?
Kinetically,
Comment
On This Article |
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| Today’s
Quotes |
Fate tried to conceal him by naming him Smith. - Oliver Wendell Holmes,
Jr.
The only reason why we ask other people how their weekend was is so
we can tell them about our own weekend. - Chuck Palahniuk
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| Today’s
Chuckle |
Dinner
[Thanks Bonnie]
Two
women are discussing marriage, and one says, “We’ve been married 10
years, and every night my husband has complained about dinner. Not one
night without complaining about the food.”
“That’s awful,” the other woman says. “That must really bother you.”
“No, not in the slightest,” says the first one.
“You must be a saint,” her friend says.
“Why should I object?” the first one says. “A lot of people don’t like
their own cooking, but I like his cooking just fine.”
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| Life
Sentences |
A woman is always younger than a man at equal years.
Girls blush, sometimes, because they are alive, half wishing they were
dead to save the shame. The sudden blush devours them, neck and brow;
They have drawn too near the fire of life, like gnats, and flare up
bodily, wings and all. What then? Who’s sorry for a gnat or girl?
He said true things, but called them by wrong names. – all from Elizabeth
Barrett Browning, English poet, died on this day in 1861
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| Image’n
That! |
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Please
Die Over There
[Thanks Tesser]
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| My
Most Embarrassing Moment
My Scariest Moment |
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Speak right up!
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| Cliff’s
Notes
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Busy
Last week I was planning some work for the week and arranging to complete
it before my personal endeavors on the trip from Cincinnati to Nashville.
I was also planning, as best I could with limited information, the route
we would take for our personal challenge to find the most amount of
geocaches we have ever found on a calendar day. On top of all that,
I was doing my part here at RGQ and packing my stuff for the trip.
All weekend it was go-go-go. We rested maybe 11 hours out of the 36.
The rest of the waking time we were either eating, searching out geocaches,
or enroute there or back home. I got back home at 4 p.m. and had to
get the next issue of RGQ ready. I was tired, depleted, and otherwise
a wreck, to which Mike can attest because I inadvertently omitted one
section of RGQ that he had to do. I know you all noticed. My article
had some errors in it that would have not appeared if my brain hadn’t
been mush as I was attempting to write it. It looked like I had written
it while under the influence of something. I do read my own stuff sometimes.
I just didn’t read it before I sent it.
Monday it was more work that took most of the day, and the inevitable
logging of all the finds of geocaches online as is required to finalize
the process. There was also a geocaching event for a “meet & greet”
across town I wanted to attend, and did. After that, there was more
logging of finds online. There were 351 finds on Saturday alone, 14
on the previous Friday, and only a few on Sunday following, but they
all add up and have to be logged individually. I spent a lot of time
on the computer to complete a lot of that.
Then Tuesday (today) arrived much too early. Now I have to continue
logging the remaining geocache finds as well as personal chores that
needed done around the house like mowing the grass and general clean-up
around the house. Add into that mix that I am leaving again this Friday
for a long weekend trip to Pennsylvania for yet another geocaching event.
I’ll be camping at a HUGE event there, so I have to begin gathering
whatever I think I may need while away. And, an additional regular,
weekly caching outing on Wednesday requires me to prepare for a boating
activity. I have to make separate piles of supplies. One for canoeing
and the other for camping/geocaching.
In my spare time, I’ll be trying to come up with something to write
about for the Friday issue which is fast approaching. All the while,
I will be continuing my preparations for the weekend and seeing if I
can stuff 100 cubic feet of stuff in a 65 cubic foot space in my tiny
little car. I think I have the answer for that. I’ll take my bicycle
with me and use the carrier straps to hold down whatever doesn’t fit
in the car.
I’ll be returning on Monday. Thank goodness we don’t publish on U.S.
holidays or you would have to read a repeat of some of my drivel, and
it wasn’t all that entertaining the first time. All I know is that I
have more to do in the short time for me to do all this than I have
hours to do it in. I think Einstein’s theory predicts I’ll reappear
at some point in the future thinking it is the past. Then I’ll have
to put all that stuff away and it’ll be time for next Wednesday’s issue.
Here’s your quiz:
Have you had times where everything seemed to happen at the same time?
Do you plan things only to realize you didn’t give yourself enough time
to plan things?
Have you found yourself going so fast you met yourself coming back the
other way?
Busy - Bees Haven’t Cornered The Market Yet
Cliff (the High-Tech Redneck who doesn’t rate a fancy ’signature pic’)
Comment
on this article |
Kirsten’s
Krazy Kaleidoscope |
Email
Kirsten
“From the bitterness
of disease man learns the sweetness of health.”
~ Catalan Proverb ~
Well that was a weekend I’d rather forget.
It all started pleasantly enough, with my younger son’s Kindergarten
graduation on Friday. It was such a lovely occasion, and I was a super-proud
Mom. Who wouldn’t be? My son looked so lovely. Look:
After the graduation, we went out for a while. We had lunch together
in James’ favourite restaurant - me, him and my husband - and then James
and I went home and I gave him his present, which he has barely stopped
playing with since.
And that is more or less when the wheels started to fall off.
Late on Friday afternoon, three things happened more or less at the
same time. The first thing: I got a toothache - a fairly common occurence,
because I’m a dentist-phobic sissy who’s been putting off dental work
forever. The second thing: my throat started getting sore - not exactly
common, but at this time of the year I get hammered by allergies, so
it happens. The third thing: I started running a fever - since this
hasn’t happened in about eight years, I think I can reasonably classify
it as “unusual”.
By Saturday morning, I felt sicker than I have in years. My fever was
in the triple digits and climbing, my head was pounding, and I felt
as if I had razor blades in my throat. Eating and drinking was so agonizing
that I could barely stay hydrated.
My husband had to work on Saturday because he has a client who keeps
giving him hefty last-minute orders. The respite worker who was supposed
to come on Saturday cancelled on me due to an ill family member. So
it was just me and the kids. It wasn’t like I could just lie on the
couch and sleep all day.
As it turned out, though, I did have someone taking care of me: my son
James. As soon as he realized that I was sick, he announced that he
was going to take care of me. He took this responsibility very seriously.
He was bringing me blankets and cups of water, urging his brother to
play quietly with a series of urgent sounding shhhhhhhes. He
even allowed me to watch TV in peace without insisting on the Backyardigans.
So I survived Saturday, and had a similar day on Sunday. Gerard had
initially suggested that we go and visit a good friend of ours who is
living out the last stages of cancer in her home. I had wanted to go,
because our friend is only going to be with us for a very short time.
At this stage, passing on my throat infection wouldn’t even make a difference
to her. But I was just too sick to go anywhere. So Sunday was another
day of lying on the couch, alternating sleep with TV. At least Gerard
was here to take care of the kids.
I was still sick on Monday.
I was still sick on Tuesday, but finally started feeling an improvement.
As I write this on Tuesday evening, I am sitting upright, I haven’t
had a fever for a full 24 hours, and my throat is just mildly sore.
Whatever it is that I had seems to be on its way out. I am even thinking
of when I will go for my next run, and that is always a reliable sign
that things are looking up.
So that was that. Hopefully it will be another eight years (or more)
before I get feverishly ill.
Kaleidoscopically yours,
Kirsten
Comment
On This Article |
| Lucille’s
Lunacy |
Nothing
from Lucille today. Hopefully she’ll be back on Friday.
Comment
On This Article |
| Poet-Tree |
I once knew a girl with 2 big… feet!! Amongst other things!
We’re still getting a few limericks to the old address. Please use the
Submit
Limerick link to ensure your limericks get included. If you wish
to email them directly, please change your email contact address for
limericks to limerickrgq@gmail.com.
Thanks,
Mike
Next opening line…
There once was a town with a crier…
Hints:
Here’s a great new rhyming/composition tool. http://www.writerhymes.com/
There’s also a great rhyming dictionary at http://www.rhymezone.com/
Limerick rules. http://freespace.virgin.net/merrick.sheldon/limerickrules.htm
Submit
Opening Line
Submit
Limerick
There
once was a girl with big feet
Which, actually, was a great treat
She would walk on your spine
While you were laying supine
And what she could do, so sweet!! - Bonnie |
There once
was a girl with big feet
who never could keep them quite neat
they gave off a smell
from the bowels of Hell
where there is an abundance of heat. - Cassandra in New York |
There
once was a girl with big feet.
Her life was not quite complete.
But she felt really mellow
When she thought of the fellow.
She hoped some day to meet. - Skeeter |
There
once was a girl with big feet.
On the bus she took a side seat.
Her feet in the aisle
She really would smile
If someone tripped on them ’twas neat. - Skeeter |
There
once was a girl with big feet
The smell of which wasn’t neat.
Though the things she would powder
Still they got louder
Then the process she’d have to repeat. - Skeeter |
There once
was as girl with big feet
Who wanted something to eat.
She was back too far
When she stood at the bar.
She couldn’t reach her treat. - Skeeter |
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Reader Comments
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Re: Paternity
I won’t
say the system is fair, because I don’t think it is. However, the
logic behind not changing a child’s paternity once it has been established
is that the child has lost the right to go after the biological father
for child support if his rights are terminated. - Lucille
Not related to this kind
of issue, but related to the use of DNA testing, my husband mentioned
the other day he had read a news item telling of an apartment complex
Somewhere, USA was using DNA testing on dog fecal materials. It then
fined the owners for not cleaning up after their pets. Whatever….Carol
T
In this case, I think the courts are overbearing. But I imagine there
is some law out there that says if you’ve paid child support for a
while, you have to continue paying.
The reason I say that is because in my own child support case - I
was married to my son’s father and when we divorced, he paid child
support for only a few months. I had a case with the Missouri Support
Enforcement Unit, but it was no good since I wasn’t on Welfare. They
go after the Welfare cases first - the state has to make sure they
get their money back. Anyway, when he WAS found and made to pay support,
the amount he paid was based on the fact that he’d made two payments
8 years previous. So in actuality, he paid a few months, waited about
7-8 years before he made another couple of payments, and then it was
about 7 years later when we found him for good and garnished his Social
Security. Because of those two payments he’d made 7-8 years previously,
he had to pay ALL the back child support. Had he not made those two
payments, they could have only gone back 10 years for child support.
I say all that to point out that the laws are crazy!
Should he sue the mom? I don’t think so. It’s very possible, she actually
didn’t know who the father was; and with recessed genes and all, the
red hair could have come from anywhere in either of their families.
In order for him to stop paying child support, the courts may have
had to "bastardize" the child - and they really don’t like
to do that. I sat through a court case recently with a friend who
had that done to her child. They did it because both parties wanted
it, but the judge didn’t like it. - Noella
Ray Thomas has certainly
been a victim of great injustice, and should be able to sue his ex
for fraud and the government for extortion. Unfortunately, the unresponsiveness
of the justice system in thousands of similar cases is rooted deep
in everyone’s DNA. Humans are most closely related to Chimpanzees
and Bonobos. Male Chimps tend to have several mates or none at all,
while the Bonobos across the Congo River are extremely promiscuous.
We seem to have taken the middle path, being mostly monogamous, but
with enough exceptions to promote genetic diversity. Worldwide, an
amazingly consistent 10% of children are misinformed about who their
real father is. Rather than change that, educators have backed off
from teaching genetics in high schools.
Overall, communities are better off if children grow up with two adults
caring for them as a team, but we also need the genes of the more
adventurous men who don’t settle down, to keep us exploring for new
niche opportunities of all kinds. We don’t like to be very open about
any of this, but loopholes for it are built into almost every culture.
In medieval Europe, marriage was for life, but that was often the
extent of the loyalty expected.
Most orphans get adopted by other families; apparently raising another
man’s child affords most of the same satisfaction as raising one’s
own. While marital infidelity arouses strong passions, even murderous
ones, most couples manage to accommodate transgressions. However,
in primitive society, child support depends upon continued friendly
relations with the designated or adoptive father. Having the legal
system persecute an absent man makes some sense if his genes are being
passed on, but if not, it is a form of slavery.
BTW, thanks to BJ for his paean to fatherhood. With all the male-bashing
in popular culture, we forget about the quiet heroes around us. A
lot of men went out to clean up the Gulf Oil spill, knowing something
of the health risks involved, but more concerned about providing a
few more paychecks to their families. People who are experienced at
dealing with boatloads of desperate refugees have learned to give
water to the young men first, because they are typically the most
dehydrated and closest to death when rescued. - Bob of the North
Well, neither your source article nor your piece state whether or
not the man played a parental role throughout the girl’s life. I would
think that would make a difference. Fatherhood is more than just DNA.
How did he get so far behind? Did he refuse to pay just because she
had red hair? The girl is really the innocent party here, and she
deserved support regardless of DNA. Life isn’t always fair, and we’ve
probably all heard of cases where you get the justice you can afford
to pay for. Unfortunately, yes, it is easier to make the little guy
pay. - L&K, herm
It seems like maybe a few
things are missing from the article.
Did
this fellow have a strong relationship with his daughter while she
was growing up? If he had visitation and treated her like a daughter,
then I see nothing wrong with him paying child support for her.
Did the mother do this maliciously? If she chose this guy because
he had the deepest pockets, that’s pretty bad. If she honestly thought
he was the dad, maybe the system worked like it was supposed to.
I’m sure I wouldn’t have such a liberal point of view if I had been
the victim in this. - Richard
Re: Pet Wash
I have
washed a few dogs. Large dogs. And I’d do it again in a heartbeat,
because however trying it is, it’s WAY easier than bathing a CAT!
OhioKat (who is fairly fearless, but no way will I ever again in my
life try to wash a cat)
I laughed and laughed when
I read this. Drive by obedience? hehehahahaha! I get that alot. I
love it. Never knew what to call that before. hehehahahahaha! You’re
great! I too know why they charge so much, and I aint doing that all
by myself. I’ll pay! - Tazz
Re: Government
Ranina
- THANK YOU. Finally, someone else is saying what I’ve been thinking.
Keep saying it, I’ll start yelling, too, and maybe if enough of us
keep yelling, someone who can actually DO something about it will
listen. - OhioKat
Ranina, I couldn’t have
said it better myself. A number of us had this same conversation at
a barbeque last Saturday night. It seems, though, that no one has
an answer. Until people are educated, I think that the same people
will remain in office. I too am amazed at the number of people who
just don’t seem to care. And the ones that do feel so helpless.
I’m beginning more and more to believe in conspiracies though. I am
beginning to believe that this is also somehow planned by those people
who have lots and lots of money. Those people who have so much money
that buying a new mansion or island or car or exotic vacations are
no longer thrilling. They have to create wars and buy people and countries,
etc. Makes one wonder when a middle-schooler came out with a study
recently which shows that she’s traced every single president with
the exception of Martin Van Buren back to King John "Lackland"
of the Plantagenet monarchy of England from the 13th century. I’d
post the link, but since so many blogs have picked it up, I’m having
a difficult time finding the original post that made the news. (Just
Google it.)
The best solution to all this I’ve heard though is to concentrate
on getting your favorites into local government and start from there.
- Noella
Fire them all. We no longer need "representatives" in government.
The people can vote via the internet, anything that gets less than
75% support, doesn’t pass. - Paul
It’s not stolen.
Back in the 1970’s one Congressman, describing how they paid for 30
days "continuing resolution" funding things to keep the
federal gov’t going until they passed a real budget said "we
borrowed it at the "National Bank". They call this a Loan.
Apparently it’s been happening since WWII. Paying BACK that loan has
never been mentioned. One wonders if the new name for that is The
National Debt. As I worked and paid into the retirement system I was
told I was funding my grandparents’ Social Security checks. I was
also told that the money collected from workers and invested separately
from other income amounted to an enormous amount of money over the
years, that the "well" would never run dry. Then they began
Medicare, and note that Part A - which covers 80% of one’s hospital
bills, is not paid by a deduction from one’s SS check. Part B - paying
80% of doctor’s bills, is. This is Optional - you agree to have this
additional government coverage. They’ve been taking $96 of my (and
everybody else’s no matter how little or how much you get) a month
from my SS check for almost 3 years now. That’s because we have had
no cost of living increase that long. I’ve wondered for years if new
Congressmen are ever told about this background when they get elected
to office.
It scares me a LOT what would happen if we actually turn our health
care over to private insurance companies. You hear quite a bit about
Senior Advantage Plans and Supplemental Insurance ( covers that 20%
of the medical bill not covered by Medicare) , but they only work
well for folks who retired with substantial investments and large
pensions. Like people who can afford to be AARP members. For the rest
of us, well, maybe there’s Medicaid if you really get permanently
sick. I had a Senior Advantage Program for a few years - right up
to when the cost for Basic Service - equal to what straight Medicare
pays - would cost me an additional $25 a month direct check to the
insuring company would have cost. I went back to straight Medicare.
What it pays for changes from time to time, and never ever has covered
stuff like dental, routine eyecare and glasses updates - the things
all people getting older always need. I’ve warned a few friends approaching
retirement to be sure they tend to their eyes and teeth before retiring.
The whole idea of putting THEM in charge of the whole program - and
requiring us all to buy it- only cements down my hunch about who wrote
the proposed law in the first place. But that’s what Lobbying is all
about. - Nancy L in Ohio
Re:
BJ’s Article May 13
I realize
I’m quite tardy in replying to this, but a) I agree; and b) the "other
side" should be mentioned - how important it is for men to be
respected!! I’m in my 50s and am *just* beginning to learn that one.
- Tesser
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Disclaimer- All quotes printed in this publication are believed to be
accurately attributed, but no guarantees are made that some incorrectly
attributed, or even outright false quotes won’t get in here from time
to time. I assure readers that I will do my best to weed out incorrect
quotes, and will print a retraction as soon as I become aware of any errors.
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