Smokies Light

This post by Hunter, one of the front pagers on DailyKos, really struck a deep nerve right next to the bone with me. I've given much thought to a writing blog separate from a photo blog over a long period of time, and actually started a few times, but the words just didn't flow enough to keep one going. I made excuses such as all the big time blogs already speak for me and there's nothing else left to say, and such as there's only ten million other blogs out there doing the same thing, what can I possibly add to the mix that's unique. I certainly have no access to inside information or gossip that would hold an audience, tho I can make some pretty good stuff up, which is what the Washington Post likes to do to keep their audience. From Hunter's post, even front pagers on the DailyKos experience the same doubts and excuses, that words displayed on monitors are powerless and evaporate quickly into the infinite vacuum of cyberspace. Yet even so, it seems that the need to write, or express one's self, is basic to human nature and that need has to be met in some positive outlet, even if no one else is listening but the writer. Perhaps with a little faith and a sprinkle of pixel dust, the words somehow register in a collective human consciousness and will make a difference in some tiny way, some tiny day. So, I might dabble around with a separate writing blog and will post the link if I can keep up a decent amount of content on a regular basis. I think in general, it's better to throw angry words on to the blog rather than throw something tangible at the newsperson on the teevee.

Scenes from the St. Augustine Farmers Market held every Saturday morning.

and some peppers

Why is it when I go into a chain drug store like CVS or Walgreens it's so hard to find over the counter drugs like cough syrup or antacids? All of the drugs fit in two short aisles with the remaining 95% of the store stocked with groceries, toys, electronics, you name it.

Where do seagulls sleep at night? Or do they sleep at all? This question is somewhat rhetorical, because I prefer it to remain one of those mysteries of the sea that even the Google god cannot answer. (bonus question: do seagulls taste like seafood or chicken?)

Scenes from the Regatta of Lights, a boat parade on the waterfront held last weekend.

Living on the eastern shore of Florida can make sunset pics a litte difficult. There have been many spectacular sunsets since I've been here but the view is marred by mundane buildings, power lines, and other trappings of modern civilization. I was explaining this dilemna to my neighbor who immediately informed me to just cross the highway and go down a street which dead ends at the Intracoastal Waterway. It helps to have local knowledge. This particular sunset was average but you'll probably see this scene a few more times. It's only a short bike ride away from my abode.

I've been watching CNBC quite a bit of late. The market volatility and general economic gloom and doom make it somewhat of an interesting little show these days. The general theme of the show is to have very highly paid analysts on all day long telling us what's gonna happen next. It would be interesting if they kept a track record of what these people said six months, one year, or two years ago and see how it played out. I don't recall talk of mortgage and banking crises by any of these people a few months or a year ago. But in the larger picture, the anchors and guests lack context. I'm not sure if context is the right word; I think the right word is they lack a sense of humanity, a soul, with perhaps the exception of Ron Insana who could possibly be a closet human being. It's not that these people are intentionally immoral or amoral; they simply have no concept of what morality is, that economies exist to serve and better the lives of individuals, families, and societies, not the other way around. I remember the days when people like Larry Kudlow and Cramer were simply caricatures in TV sitcoms, the Mr. Drysdale, the Mr. Mooney, the Eddie Haskell. They were to be laughed at with a subtle scorn, the type of person your kids should not try to emulate. Try watching Kudlow with the volume down; he's a real hoot the way he dresses, and he looks so serious, a real buffoon. Then you turn the volume up and realize he is not acting, that the network that gives him a platform is not putting on a TV sitcom. They are serious. A real Mr. Potter is right there on the screen, doing his part to turn what's left of our Bedford Falls of a nation into Pottersville right before your very eyes.

Just birding around with this pic taken this afternoon. Seagulls, sandpipers, royal terns, some other terns, skimmers all volunteered to pose for this pic together.

Blizzard like conditions blew into St. Augustine Sunday afternoon, with temps reaching all the way down to 35 by Monday morning. The forecast is for a rebound to 70 by Tuesday. If the forecast is wrong I might have to suspend blogging until the internet tubes thaw out. Notice the strain on the dock lines and the tilt of the boat in the pic below.

Duke Energy is planning to build a new $1.8 BILLION coal burning power plant just 80 miles from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, according to the Raleigh News-Observer. The EPA and NPS believe the air quality in the Park and the western North Carolina mountains will be severely impacted. The state of North Carolina is allowing Duke to bypass the normal environmental impact research.

"State air regulators are allowing Duke Energy to avoid proving that the plant's emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, pollutants that contribute to respiratory problems, haze, acid rain and fine soot, won't worsen visibility and foul creeks in the Great Smokies and wilderness areas such as Linville Gorge."

The reason for the fast track, according to Duke Energy, is that four old power plants at the same location will be shut down and an old one upgraded to current standards, mitigating the impact of the new plant. However, both the NPS and EPA strongly disagree, and indicate Duke has intentionally misled state regulators. A pending lawsuit against Duke by the EPA states that Duke has already illegally altered the powerplants at this location to bypass clean air laws.

"The real-world effect ... would be severe impacts upon air quality and air quality related values at Great Smoky Mountains National Park", said John Bunyak, chief of permit review for the NPS.

What's unusual about the federal opposition to this plant is how both the NPS and EPA have voiced strong opposition. Normally the NPS remains fairly quiet on these type of issues letting environmental groups lead the way, but perhaps now with a friendly Congress the NPS can speak more freely. The EPA opposition is still a little bit of a shocker. Perhaps Duke hasn't bribed advocated its position in Washington adequately, concentrating their efforts at the state level.

What you can do: If you're a North Carolina resident, your input to the state government will have more impact than non-residents. You can email the NC governor at this link. You can also contact your local state representatives. If you're outside of North Carolina, an email to your federal representatives might be in order.

Shouldn't "free trade" be renamed to "products made with slave labor under communist dicatorships" trade? Or, to make it easier to say on teevee, just call it "slave trade". Kind of hard to be against anything that has the word "free" in it. I'm just glad NAFTA solved our illegal immigration problems as promised.

Finally got around to telling the USPS to forward my mail down here. You can do it online now, but then you have to decline (or accept) coupon and magazine offers. When did the USPS start selling magazines on the side? This idea has some potential. When you file your taxes online the IRS could analyze your return instantly and do target marketing based on your income,location, marital status, tax refund, and so on. Click here to subscribe now. Payment will be deducted automatically from your refund.

How much profit do you think Harrah's at Cherokee made in 2006? If you guessed $478,619,712 then you are correct. The tribe receives 50% of the profit with the other half going to Harrah's I guess. The casino is now getting a $650,000,000 overhaul. Martin Scorsese has been hired to direct the drama Unto These Hills, now starring Bono and Angelina Jolie. Ok, I just made that last sentence up. Instead of ceding a few hundred acres of National Park land to Cherokee for a new high school as was done at Ravensford a few years ago, they should have ceded the land for a new casino, with 50% of the profits going to fund the entire National Park System.

This closed up business caught my attention. The patrons must have had a hard time finding the door.

This evening Mars will be just a hop and a skip away. A hop and a skip is an astronomical measuring unit meaning 54,783,381 miles. The last few days it's been hard to not notice the big bright little ball with a reddisth tint in the eastern sky just after sunset. It can also be seen before sunrise in the southeast sky. It's so close even with the naked eye you can make out that it has some roundness to it, unlike your average twinkling star.
Read all about it at Space.com.

when even green rubber garden hoses add to the festive spirit.

I bought myself a present, an upgrade to Photoshop from the ancient CS version to CS3. I put off upgrading because the newer features didn't justify the cost for the way I typically use the product. One new feature which I have an interest in is the ability to develop images in High Dynamic Range (HDR). HDR is basically taking multiple images of the same scene at different exposures and merging them into one. The technique can produce some amazing and surreal effects. As with anything it will take some practice and patience, and require the use of the dreaded tripod. Hopefully next year I'll have some HDR images worthy of posting to the blog.

This post will most likely be the last one this year since I'm on vacation from the day job and want to take a break from the computer for a while. Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

It's that time of year to reminisce about the year rapidly departing and to make resolutions for the new one rapidly approaching. It's also that time of year that I burn all the pics taken the last year to CD and clean off my hard drive. My resolution is clean up more than once a year because it's painfully boring and tedious work. As I come across any pics not previously made public over the last year I'll post them to the blog over the next few days. The pic above was taken at the Chimneys picnic area on February 4th.

St. Thomas, USVI taken on May 28th.

I guess this one has to be my favorite pic taken in 2007. I've got dozens of male cardinal pics but a snow shot had eluded me for years. Cardinals don't like people and will fly off at the slightest disturbance. They also easily recognize the human form even if you are completely motionless and won't come near, unlike many other songbirds. There has to be some bad blood between humans and cardinals way back in our ancestral roots. This one was taken on April 15th in the Smokies.

Flagler Beach, about 30 miles south of St. Augustine.

Happy New Year.