Bambi meets Godzilla

Just because

Souter’s First

In June of last year I wrote;

“John McCain has stated he continue to appoint conservative judges. The more moderate, some say liberal, judges are ready to retire. John Paul Stevens is 88, Justice Ruth Bader-Ginsburg is in her middle 70’s and has health issues and Justice Souter would like to get back to his cabin.
All of them are clinging to their seats, praying for a progressive, Democratic President so they can retire and not concede the court to the activist right.”

Well Souter has bailed and you have to know that Ginsberg and Stevens are not far behind.
Elected by Papa Bush Souter ended up being a judge that understands the law and was not an ideologue. The Shrub’s choices are a disaster that we will have to live with for a long time.
Thankfully all three made it to Obama’s Presidency and he will have the opportunity to at least keep the jackals at bay.

The Thinnest of Margins

It has been awhile since I wrote about ecology and I totally missed Earth Day.

To make up for it I will quote Garrett Riesman
an astronaut that I have been fortunate to meet. Upon getting to the Space Station and looking back at Earth he said this;

“…the thing that was closer to an epiphany for me was at one point I looked out, was within a day or so of being in orbit, I looked at the horizon, and I could see how thin the atmosphere was. And the atmosphere was... it just was the thinnest sliver of a band around the earth. And if you look, one would describe this as if you hold your arm out at full-arm's length, and I think if you stick out your pinky [finger] basically, that's the thickness of the atmosphere as seen on the horizon from our altitude. That's really not much, and it looked incredibly fragile. Before this, I kind of thought of the skies and seas as these vast, limitless expanses, and I don't think of it that way anymore. Especially when you consider how thin the atmosphere is and when you consider the ocean is a tenth as a... you know, ten times as less thick as the atmosphere is. You get the feeling that everything that we think as being Earth, all the forests, oceans, trees, and mountains. All that stuff is just the thinnest little coating on the top of a gigantic rock.”

Highlighted words are HOT links that open in a new window

Tharon Musser 1925-2009

Tharon Musser represents the change from old theatricals to modern stage design.
Most significant was her work on “A Chorus Line” that brought her love of dance and use of new technology to Broadway. Her proudest moment may have been “A Little Night Music” where all her skills came into play and culminated in a beautiful design that served the script.
The NY Times has printed an obituary that gives her great credit for her work.
My life changed one morning in Dallas where I was having breakfast with Tharon and Marilyn. I had planned to find a regional theatre and enjoy the craft. Tharon set me on another path.
Through a friend of hers I found myself on the way to Stratford Conn. and the Shakespeare Festival where she had deigned some of their biggest productions. From there it was just a short drive to New York.
Tharon kept me busy as an assistant until I was able to get out on my own and eventually she became my landlady.
I enjoyed 25 years in that household and was privileged to be able to call her a friend.
Her illness took her away from us way too early she will be missed.

Highlighted words are HOT links that open in a new window

A Billion!

There are a lot of "billions" being thrown about these days. But how much is a billion?

Isn't a million pretty big?

Lets look at in terms of time.

To calculate the number of years in one billion seconds, write first one billion in integers to make sure you don't miss any zero i.e 1,000,000,000.

Next, we determine how many seconds are there in a year:
1 min = 60 seconds
1 hour = 60 min = 60 x 60 seconds = 3,600 seconds
1 day = 24 hours = 24 x 3,600 seconds = 86,400 seconds
1 year = 365 days = 365 x 86,400 seconds = 31,536,000 seconds

To get the number of years for 1,000,000,000 seconds, we just divide
1,000,000,000 by 31,536,000

It should give us : 1,000,000,000 / 31,536,000 = 31.71 YEARS.

To give you an idea a million seconds is just about 12 DAYS!

70 Years Ago Today

Marion Anderson, banned from singing at the Constitution Hall by the DAR, sang at the Lincoln Memorial in front of 75 thousand people including the young Martin Luther King.

30 Years Ago Today

3 Mile Island went critical and the nations nuclear industry stopped cold.

Just the week before I had seen "The China Syndrome".
It was like "deja vu all over again.

30 Years Ago Today
3 Mile Island

The Perfect

Bicycle accessory.



C'Mon Spring!

Stupid Groundhog!

Thanks to VeloNews for the image.

Highlighted words are HOT links that open in a new window

It Was Always...

About the Supremes.

With Ginsburg ill, Stevens is 88 and Souter wanting to reteat to his cabin Obama will appoint at least three supremes soon.

Size #10

Iraqi journalist throws shoes at George Bush. Apparently it is an insult to throw shoes in Iraq.
I'm afraid the Shrub will not catch a break in his last days a Commander in Chief.

67 Years Ago

But just a thought...

This is the fiftieth anniversary of the peace sign, originally designed as the official sign for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament in England in 1958.

PEACE

BREATHE !!!

You can hear Justice Stevens

let out a sigh of relief now that President Elect Obama has been elected.
This election was always about the Supreme Court.

President Elect Obama will have the opportunity to keep the Supreme Court somewhat in balance for the future. He will probably appoint three justices before he’s done.

Highlighted words are HOT links that open in a new window

Again the New Yorker says it all in a simple image.

The King Is Back

Velo News is reporting that Lance Armstrong will race with Astana next year.

IMO BUMMER!!!!

Contadore and Liepheimer don’t need the distraction of an egomaniac trying to relive his triumphs.
The only way Armstrong wins the Tour is having the entire team working for him.

That is just not fair to either Contadore and Liepheimer .

Highlighted words are HOT links that open in a new window

The Tour Final Thoughts

This is a bit out of date as I was traveling but there are some things to consider after the Tour has concluded.
I think we have to put an * asterisk after this one.
Sastre deserved the win and put the hard work into the toughest climbs but another Spaniard was missing on the steep slopes.
Alberto Contador and the entire Astana Team were wrongfully left out of the Tour. No one can say what would have happened but combine Contador with Leipheimer supporting him and you have a much different race.
So now it’s time for one more race.
The Vuelta de Espana Starting the 31st of August.
They will all be there, it will answer some important questions and set the tone for the next year.

A word about the great George Hincapie .
He missed a win on Jausiers by just 24 seconds. After pounding himself for Cavandish there was no one from Team Columbia to help him.
A pity he deserved a stage. We can only hope he won’t retire yet.

Highlighted words are HOT links that open in a new window

Alpe D’Huez

If you win on Alpe D’Huez you can win the Tour de France and Sastre did just that.

Highlighted words are HOT links that open in a new window

Viva Sastre Viva Espana

With the ride of his career Sastre held off Cadel Evans and won the Tour de France.

Team Columbia and Team Garmin-Chipotle have done superb jobs, more on the entire day later.

Highlighted words are HOT links that open in a new window

Barak Obama in Berlin

Europe knows a winner when they see one.
Listen to the speech and you will hear a man who can bring our country together and the world closer.

The speech is 26 minutes.

Viva Espana

A decisive win by Carlos Sastre on Alp D’huez put him in yellow and set up an epic time trial on Saturday between the Spaniard and Cadel Evans that will decide who will win the Tour .

Highlighted words are HOT links that open in a new window