Thursday, October 31, 2013

Happy Halloween or Samhain or All Hallows Eve, etc.

It is wet for this Halloween and it is supposed to continue all day and well into tonight.  I don't know how many kids we will see tonight but we make sure that we get candy we like.  Whatever is left will be small treats for a while.

I spent some time yesterday taking inventory of the seeds I still have on hand.  They are in the freezer now and will remain there until I start next year's gardens.  I also got all my garden pictures arranged and transferred to the folders for the year in which I took them.  Soon I will start making my tentative shopping list for the 2014 gardens.  I already know I want a rose--an old fashioned rose with a strong scent.  And a new blueberry.  I am stubborn and we really like blueberries.  I discovered this year that my water is very alkaline and very hard neither of which is good for blueberries.  I have a plan to address the problem and hope for better results next year.

Perhaps our congress would like to investigate these computer "glitches."  But since it isn't part of Obama's "flagship" program they might not see any political advantage.

Reading this piece I wonder where the polls will be when next year's elections come around.  I would used the old curse (a pox on both your houses) but I don't see any third party out there I can identify with.

The news readers on Al Jazeera asked an interesting question this morning.  They noted that another set of hearings was going on at the same time the Sebelius grilling was going on: on the NSA and CIA spying.  The story noted the talking points paper which instructed spokesmen and officials for both agencies to play up 9/11 and they certainly did do that claiming that because of their spying no successful "mass" casualty attacks have occurred.  The question you wonder?  How long can security officials play the "9/11 card?"  I don't know but they have gotten really good milage so far.

Our local news had this a couple of days ago but it is cute and worth a link.

According to the op-ed in the Bangkok Post the U.S. is number one--for the amount of spam generated here.

An Italian architectural firm is taking the notion of "vertical gardening" to a fantastic new height.  The pictures are amazing.  For more info and pictures go here.

The Contrary Farmer has an entertaining post on the intersection of local art, farming and business.

The controversy over Asian carp in the Illinois River that might migrate (or might have already migrated) into the Great Lakes has appeared at intervals over the last few years.  Not long ago the news noted that the fish had been found in a couple of the Indiana watersheds that feed into Lake Michigan.  I do not doubt that the voracious fish would do serious damage to the ecology of the Lakes and the economies of the bordering states but I wonder which would do more damage--the Asian carp or this.  At least the carp is edible and can be processed for fertilizer (and maybe other products) but the plastic microbeads?  What do you do with them?

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