Friday, November 18, 2005
IT HURTS Have you ever wondered how we managed to get where we are today? There can be little doubt it; we have, in several centuries found our way to a special place. I'm asking you to strain your natural sense hesitation to brag about our progress a bit and look at what we have accomplished from the way we lived in Colonial times - and how we have done much of it against self-imposed odds. Right now when we are involved in wars that are different in so many ways from what we have known before we cannot seem to agree on just how we should conduct ourselves. In recent years we have seen protest manifest itself in some strange ways, some of which have exited fears of internal weakness which is at work doing us in. The name of Congressman John Murtha, a Democrat, a member from the Johnstown area of the State of Pennsylvania came into world-wide prominence this morning. All day we have been subjected to piece-by-piece descriptions of the man himself. He was virtually unknown to most of us. He is being put together like a jig saw puzzle of sort none of which can possibly be a fair estimate because everyone forms such an image as it appears in their own mind. I have a strong feeling Murtha is being used as a patsy by his own party. since his statements were bomb-blasted on TV hey are all ready for the major talk shows over the week end. It also hits at then moment when any good, news filtering back from the media from every angle. Next week, or at the opportune moment, better know Democratic voices will sound out with more moderate “demands” and we can marvel at the wonderful, cooperative, understanding and bsic element of love for all mankind in which we live...at times. Let's face truth. At times, peace-making, too can be “hell” A.L.M. November 18, 2005 [c354wds]
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
QUIZ: I BLEW IT. The National Wildlife people did a brand new quiz concerning this past week and I failed it miserably. I really blew it, confident as I had been that I knew a thing or two about bears. After all, I have seen live bear “in the wild – as they say. I've witnessed them lumbering across fields, crossing streams, even one fine animal ambling along the road beside which I used to lived in Virginia. Being aware of bear, of course, I thought I knew a thing or two about them. The first question on the Wildlife quiz threw me. They ask me where most grizzly bear called home. They even gave me a choice of four locations, so I became suspicious. When I saw “ Alaska”, “Canada”,”Montana“,” Idaho“ printed before me, I went first with ”Alaska”; did not bite on the Idaho bait at all, and concluded that Canada had more room for bear to wander than even huge Alaska. My answer was “Canada” and they, of course, liked “Alaska”. Next question, please. The bear is seen today in just eight species. Originally it is thought to have been it was a small animal of about the size of present day racoons and foxes. It was called the “Ursavus” and it lived in Asia; ate both plant and animal food and was heavily covered with thick fur which enabled it to thrive in the coldest areas. Those which remained in Asia eventually turned into the giant Panda living China today. Those who took the bridge across the Bering Sea, short-faced bear, which prospered in the Upper North and in the Altas Mountains in South America. The “Brown” bear and the “Grizzly” bar are one and the same. Lest we forget, the "Polar” bear split off from the regular bear family at about three hundred years thousand years ago when they took to the ice and turned white for protective reasons. Male grizzly bears find their partners by following a scent left by the female wherever she may go. The baby pups are only about one-pound in weight at birth and they stay with Mother for two years or more. The male grizzly or brown bear take absolutely no responsability for their young at all, so the romantic version of Papa, Mama and Baby are extremely exaggerated. The grizzly life is not the sort forming the base of romantic novel - far from it and it appears to be one place for humans to avoid. Other bears are found in many sections of our country - in our National Park area, in particular, and we need to take sensible steps to see to it we can coexist a while longer. A.L.M. November 15, 2005 [c000wds]
Monday, November 14, 2005
NOT QUITE READYIt appears that we will have to to wait a bit longer before we can whiz through down town in our ultra new hydrogen-powered car. They still don't have the high-cost bugs devalued enough. I may hav committed a literary boo-boo when I used the term “whizzed”,that suggests too much noise and h-car fans insist their new system “whispers” at the loudest. The thought occurred to me just the other day that, with all that quietness wrapped around us as we drive, we can not only see but also hear what other drivers say about us when they drive eratically. Lip reading will no longer be useful. Driving habits will change. I was reading just this past week about the Swiss version of such a future car the “Prius Pac-II. The figures I have were done last August and could have changed by this time, but this is typical of the way keep tabs on the matter so they are valid for me. It is sleek, tubular little thing, silvery with three red and yellow Shell logos. With paint, it weighs in at sixty-two pounds. The one hundred pound girl student stands at the ready with sturdy crash helmet in at-hip position. The students at the Swiss Federal Insitutue of Technology, Zurich,who worked on this car know what it can do and they have learned what it cannot do, and why. They can't expect to set any speed records on a car which runs on two 150 watt light bulbs. So, their next car will be a hybrid using some sort of hydrogen power. It might prove worthwhile for us to glance down through some of the statistics which cause us to pause in an plans we have to turn out h-cars successfully. For instance, Honda fuel cells offered just sixty-seven miles per gallon That's about average for others, as well, it seems. Studies show that it is more expensive to operate a fuel cell car when compared to a conventional one per killowatt hour in the range of eighty five times. The United State currently manufactures about 9 million cubic feet of hydrogen perhps,enough of fuel 25 million cars. With current trends toward offshore manufacturing that could fade away fast under narrow enviornmentalist pressures and the internal production of all hydrogen fuel cancelled. Especially for those people who have continuing “Hindenberg complex” doubts and expect hydrogen in whatever form to explode at any moment.
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