Good Morning, All. The weather isn't much to talk about. Still unseasonably cool. Nice for most of the garden but the tomatoes are still slow. The late season plant hasn't set any fruit yet. Some blossoms but no fruit. Although we have had periods of showers over the last couple of weeks (like on the 4th) not enough rain has fallen do any good in the gardens. Most of the gardens are doing well. We are taking stock of what we have and making notes for next spring. Note #1: do not plant sugar snap peas. Too little yield per plant for a container garden. Note #2: even with the large containers do not put in more than two tomato plants. Note #3: plant more lettuce. We have had more salads and sandwiches so far this year than we had in the previous two years together. Eating is so much more enjoyable when things taste good.

Tripping through MSNBC I found this story while trying to avoid the ad nauseaum coverage of Michael Jackson's memorial. It make you wonder what we are getting for the mind-blowing amounts of money we are spending on 'Homeland Security.' Those were (supposedly) high security federal buildings. I caught a bit of the story a couple of days ago on the nightly news but it was barely a mention amid the overwhelming coverage of the YOU-KNOW-WHO.

Right next to the above story was this one. Officials in the U.S. and South Korea think North Korea is behind a concerted cyber attack on government and financial agencies in both countries. Of course such attacks are very hard to trace back to the perpetrators but is anyone really surprised? After all, according to recent South Korean reports, North Korea would rather spend massive amounts of money ($700 million at last count) for the means (in this case missiles and nuclear warheads) to blackmail other countries into giving what they need to support their people rather than spend that directly on those people. Of course, these stories get barely a nod given the current focus of the news media. Does anyone remember the phrase "bread and circuses?"