Good morning all on this foggy Wednesday.  We had a good rain overnight.  They say there were some thunderstorms but all I heard last night was rain.  I don't mind the rain--it will help my containers thaw out.  So far the roses, blueberries, and thyme look good.  The mums and lavender are questionable.  I will start the tomatoes and peppers next week and get a list of what I want to start when.  I did make notes on the plants including when to start the seeds but now I want a chronological list.

Well, all the noise seems to be concentrated this morning on the Tuesday primaries in Michigan and Arizona (barely 'won' by Romney) and the new line up for Dancing With The Stars (which I don't watch and couldn't care less about.)  Oh, and the severe weather with tornadoes that ripped parts of Missouri and surrounding states.  I saw an interesting little article this morning with a poll indicating that Americans are finally coming accept the notion of global warming climate change.  Evidently the strange weather (heat wave, drought, and warmer, drier winter) over the last year finally means that their perceptions match their ideas of the theory.  I thought one of the quotes was interesting--the scientist was glad Americans 'believe in thermometers.'  That says something about our general competency (not high) in science.

As Mark Twain (I think it was) said: history doesn't repeat; it rhymes.  This piece underscores that premise.

A relatively new item on TV that has amused us for a while is the prevalence of commercials offering a cure for 'low T' (testosterone deficiency.)  Given the number of commercials for cures for 'erectile deficiency,' I have wondered how historians a hundred years from now would view our poor fragile and beleaguered males.  Evidently, according to this Financial Times piece, the crap really hit fan (or the fragile male egos) after the financial crisis and dealing with it is now making some people very rich.

Grist had an interesting little article on an insect pest that has been showing up increasingly at import check stations.  Mom wondered where it came from and I told her that the Wikipedia list was so extensive it would almost be easier to list the countries where it isn't found.  The Khapra beetle originally came from  India and enjoys a very wide range of foods--most of which humans depend on as well.  And, from what I was reading we don't have many ways of controlling it if it does become established.  As if we didn't have enough problems with the zebra mussel (which has devastated the the lake perch population in the Great Lakes) and the Asian carp (whose possible invasion of the Great Lakes has been the subject of repeated lawsuits going all the way to the Supreme Court.)

Grist also posted this intriguing notion: a little, free library on the front lawn.