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Courtesy of an e-mail my Aunt Lora sent to me.
May 31, 2006
May 26, 2006
!Step AWAY from the blog! :-)
I will be away from my blogs for the long weekend.
Please take a minute to stop & remember those soliders that have died for, fought for or are currently serving our country.
I will post again later in the week.
Have fun & stay safe!
Please take a minute to stop & remember those soliders that have died for, fought for or are currently serving our country.
I will post again later in the week.
Have fun & stay safe!
Creeping Deserts
Deserts May Be Creeping Closer to Cities
By ANDREW BRIDGES (Associated Press Writer)
From Associated PressMay 26, 2006 8:06 AM EDT
WASHINGTON - Deserts in the American Southwest and around the globe are creeping toward heavily populated areas as the jet streams shift, researchers reported Thursday.
The result: Areas already stressed by drought may get even drier.
Satellite measurements made from 1979 to 2005 show that the atmosphere in the subtropical regions both north and south of the equator is heating up. As the atmosphere warms, it bulges out at the altitudes where the northern and southern jet streams slip past like swift and massive rivers of air. That bulging has pushed both jet streams about 70 miles closer to the Earth's poles.
Since the jet streams mark the edge of the tropics, in essence framing the hot zone that hugs the equator, their outward movement has allowed the tropics to grow wider by about 140 miles. That means the relatively drier subtropics move as well, pushing closer to places like Salt Lake City, where Thomas Reichler, co-author of the new study, teaches meteorology.
"One of the immediate consequences one can think of is those deserts and dry areas are moving poleward," said Reichler, of the University of Utah. Details appear in Friday in the journal Science.
The movement has allowed the subtropics to edge toward populated areas, including the American Southwest, southern Australia and the Mediterranean basin. In those places, the lack of precipitation already is a worry.
Additional creep could move Africa's Sahara Desert farther north, worsening drought conditions that are already a serious problem on that continent and bringing drier weather to the countries that ring the Mediterranean Sea.
"The Mediterranean is one region that models consistently show drying in the future. That could be very much related to this pattern that we are seeing in the atmosphere," said Isaac Held, a senior research scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. He was not connected with the research.
A shift in where subtropical dry zones lie could make climate change locally noticeable for more people, said Karen Rosenlof, a NOAA research meteorologist also unconnected to the study.
"It is a plausible thing that could be happening, and the people who are going to see its effects earliest are the ones who live closer to the tropics, like southern Australia," said Rosenlof. Her own work suggests the tropics have actually compressed since 2000, after growing wider over the previous 20 years.
Reichler suspects global warming is the root cause of the shift, but said he can't be certain. Other possibilities include variability and destruction of the ozone layer. However, he and his colleagues have noted similar behavior in climate models that suggest global warming plays a role.
Moving the jet streams farther from the equator could disrupt storm patterns, as well as intensify individual storms on the poleward side of the jet streams, said lead author Qiang Fu, a University of Washington atmospheric scientist.
In Europe, for example, that shift could mean less snow falling on the Alps in winter. That would be bad news for skiers, as well as for farmers and others who rely on rivers fed by snowmelt.
"This definitely favors or enhances the frequency of droughts," Fu said of such a shift.
Copyright 2005 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
By ANDREW BRIDGES (Associated Press Writer)
From Associated PressMay 26, 2006 8:06 AM EDT
WASHINGTON - Deserts in the American Southwest and around the globe are creeping toward heavily populated areas as the jet streams shift, researchers reported Thursday.
The result: Areas already stressed by drought may get even drier.
Satellite measurements made from 1979 to 2005 show that the atmosphere in the subtropical regions both north and south of the equator is heating up. As the atmosphere warms, it bulges out at the altitudes where the northern and southern jet streams slip past like swift and massive rivers of air. That bulging has pushed both jet streams about 70 miles closer to the Earth's poles.
Since the jet streams mark the edge of the tropics, in essence framing the hot zone that hugs the equator, their outward movement has allowed the tropics to grow wider by about 140 miles. That means the relatively drier subtropics move as well, pushing closer to places like Salt Lake City, where Thomas Reichler, co-author of the new study, teaches meteorology.
"One of the immediate consequences one can think of is those deserts and dry areas are moving poleward," said Reichler, of the University of Utah. Details appear in Friday in the journal Science.
The movement has allowed the subtropics to edge toward populated areas, including the American Southwest, southern Australia and the Mediterranean basin. In those places, the lack of precipitation already is a worry.
Additional creep could move Africa's Sahara Desert farther north, worsening drought conditions that are already a serious problem on that continent and bringing drier weather to the countries that ring the Mediterranean Sea.
"The Mediterranean is one region that models consistently show drying in the future. That could be very much related to this pattern that we are seeing in the atmosphere," said Isaac Held, a senior research scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. He was not connected with the research.
A shift in where subtropical dry zones lie could make climate change locally noticeable for more people, said Karen Rosenlof, a NOAA research meteorologist also unconnected to the study.
"It is a plausible thing that could be happening, and the people who are going to see its effects earliest are the ones who live closer to the tropics, like southern Australia," said Rosenlof. Her own work suggests the tropics have actually compressed since 2000, after growing wider over the previous 20 years.
Reichler suspects global warming is the root cause of the shift, but said he can't be certain. Other possibilities include variability and destruction of the ozone layer. However, he and his colleagues have noted similar behavior in climate models that suggest global warming plays a role.
Moving the jet streams farther from the equator could disrupt storm patterns, as well as intensify individual storms on the poleward side of the jet streams, said lead author Qiang Fu, a University of Washington atmospheric scientist.
In Europe, for example, that shift could mean less snow falling on the Alps in winter. That would be bad news for skiers, as well as for farmers and others who rely on rivers fed by snowmelt.
"This definitely favors or enhances the frequency of droughts," Fu said of such a shift.
Copyright 2005 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
May 12, 2006
Is this a true solution?
Congress May Expand Border Fences
By JACQUES BILLEAUD (Associated Press Writer)
From Associated PressMay 11, 2006 11:24 PM EDT
DOUGLAS, Ariz. - Much of this dusty city along the border is separated from Mexico by a fence consisting of 12-foot vertical metal bars, spaced inches apart to prevent illegal immigrants from squeezing through.
Surveillance cameras are mounted on towers nearby, and Border Patrol agents posted hundreds of feet away in the desert scrub and flowering ocotillo watch for anyone who might try to scale, cut through, slip under or sneak around the fence.
Though these fences are criticized for shifting would-be border-crossers to more dangerous and remote spots, they do make it harder for illegal immigrants to reach urban areas where they can slip into a car and head for the nation's interior to find work.
Now, as Washington seeks to overhaul America's broken immigration policies, Congress is considering putting many more such barriers along the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border, which already has 83 miles of fences.
A bill that cleared the House in December would put fences at immigrant- and drug-smuggling corridors in all four southern border states. At an estimated cost of $2.5 billion, the fences would cover 850 miles of border - roughly one-fifth the length of the Great Wall of China - though it would not be one continuous wall.
The gaps would be policed the way many remote areas of the border are already guarded now: with motion sensors, cameras, unmanned drone aircraft and Border Patrol agents.
Among other things, House legislation calls for a mostly continuous 392-mile fence from Calexico, Calif., to Douglas. The second-largest piece would be a largely uninterrupted 305-mile segment in the Texas brush country from Laredo to Brownsville, a corridor used by cocaine smugglers.
Immigrant rights groups say fences waste taxpayer money because would-be border-crossers who are desperate to earn a better living in America will always find a way around or through barriers, as evidenced by the lower sections of the fence in Douglas, where rods have had to be welded into place to patch up breaches.
Even some proponents say erecting fences, without using other border enforcement efforts, will not stop illegal immigrants.
"All by itself, it's not a magic solution," said Ira Mehlman, spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which favors limiting immigration.
But the Border Patrol says fences slow down immigrants so authorities can have enough time to respond to those who try to come across. That, in turn, frees up other agents to focus on remote areas, where they already use aircraft and ground sensors.
"Fencing by itself is not effective, but not having a fence is not effective either," added Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz.
Advocates for beefing up border security said a 14-mile fence near San Diego, once the country's most prolific smuggling center, shows that barriers work. The fence there is made of corrugated metal sheets previously used as landing surfaces for military aircraft. Behind it is a second fence, made of tightly woven mesh.
Within that area, the barrier is credited with dramatically reducing the flow of illegal immigrants.
Rep. Duncan Hunter, a California Republican who is the leading voice in Congress for more fences, said the costs of building fences are much lower than the government expenses associated with illegal immigration, including huge sums spent on incarcerating immigrants convicted of crimes in the United States.
Opponents say there are some costly consequences as well. Immigrant rights advocates say fences prompt migrants to cross in remote areas where they face dangerous obstacles, such as rivers where some drown, deserts where some succumb to the heat, and mountains where some are injured or die.
Also, a large-scale fence could force immigrants to remain in the country longer, while in the past they came to earn money and then returned home, said Angela Kelley, deputy director of the pro-immigrant National Immigration Forum.
"If it's riskier and harder, people don't leave," said Kelley, who believes a guest worker program will reduce illegal crossings.
In Douglas, Louis Hahn, a retiree who tends horses on his ranch, said the fence reduces traffic through the city. But he said it is simplistic to think that a huge physical barrier will trump the economic forces that prompt fathers to leave their families and risk their lives for a chance at a better life.
"You have got to put yourself in the position of the man crossing the border and what he's willing to take," Hahn said.
---
On the Net:
Customs and Border Protection: http://www.cbp.gov
Sen. Jon Kyl: http://kyl.senate.gov
Rep. Duncan Hunter: http://www.house.gov/hunter
National Immigration Forum: http://www.immigrationforum.org
Federation for American Immigration Reform: http://www.fairus.org
By JACQUES BILLEAUD (Associated Press Writer)
From Associated PressMay 11, 2006 11:24 PM EDT
DOUGLAS, Ariz. - Much of this dusty city along the border is separated from Mexico by a fence consisting of 12-foot vertical metal bars, spaced inches apart to prevent illegal immigrants from squeezing through.
Surveillance cameras are mounted on towers nearby, and Border Patrol agents posted hundreds of feet away in the desert scrub and flowering ocotillo watch for anyone who might try to scale, cut through, slip under or sneak around the fence.
Though these fences are criticized for shifting would-be border-crossers to more dangerous and remote spots, they do make it harder for illegal immigrants to reach urban areas where they can slip into a car and head for the nation's interior to find work.
Now, as Washington seeks to overhaul America's broken immigration policies, Congress is considering putting many more such barriers along the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border, which already has 83 miles of fences.
A bill that cleared the House in December would put fences at immigrant- and drug-smuggling corridors in all four southern border states. At an estimated cost of $2.5 billion, the fences would cover 850 miles of border - roughly one-fifth the length of the Great Wall of China - though it would not be one continuous wall.
The gaps would be policed the way many remote areas of the border are already guarded now: with motion sensors, cameras, unmanned drone aircraft and Border Patrol agents.
Among other things, House legislation calls for a mostly continuous 392-mile fence from Calexico, Calif., to Douglas. The second-largest piece would be a largely uninterrupted 305-mile segment in the Texas brush country from Laredo to Brownsville, a corridor used by cocaine smugglers.
Immigrant rights groups say fences waste taxpayer money because would-be border-crossers who are desperate to earn a better living in America will always find a way around or through barriers, as evidenced by the lower sections of the fence in Douglas, where rods have had to be welded into place to patch up breaches.
Even some proponents say erecting fences, without using other border enforcement efforts, will not stop illegal immigrants.
"All by itself, it's not a magic solution," said Ira Mehlman, spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which favors limiting immigration.
But the Border Patrol says fences slow down immigrants so authorities can have enough time to respond to those who try to come across. That, in turn, frees up other agents to focus on remote areas, where they already use aircraft and ground sensors.
"Fencing by itself is not effective, but not having a fence is not effective either," added Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz.
Advocates for beefing up border security said a 14-mile fence near San Diego, once the country's most prolific smuggling center, shows that barriers work. The fence there is made of corrugated metal sheets previously used as landing surfaces for military aircraft. Behind it is a second fence, made of tightly woven mesh.
Within that area, the barrier is credited with dramatically reducing the flow of illegal immigrants.
Rep. Duncan Hunter, a California Republican who is the leading voice in Congress for more fences, said the costs of building fences are much lower than the government expenses associated with illegal immigration, including huge sums spent on incarcerating immigrants convicted of crimes in the United States.
Opponents say there are some costly consequences as well. Immigrant rights advocates say fences prompt migrants to cross in remote areas where they face dangerous obstacles, such as rivers where some drown, deserts where some succumb to the heat, and mountains where some are injured or die.
Also, a large-scale fence could force immigrants to remain in the country longer, while in the past they came to earn money and then returned home, said Angela Kelley, deputy director of the pro-immigrant National Immigration Forum.
"If it's riskier and harder, people don't leave," said Kelley, who believes a guest worker program will reduce illegal crossings.
In Douglas, Louis Hahn, a retiree who tends horses on his ranch, said the fence reduces traffic through the city. But he said it is simplistic to think that a huge physical barrier will trump the economic forces that prompt fathers to leave their families and risk their lives for a chance at a better life.
"You have got to put yourself in the position of the man crossing the border and what he's willing to take," Hahn said.
---
On the Net:
Customs and Border Protection: http://www.cbp.gov
Sen. Jon Kyl: http://kyl.senate.gov
Rep. Duncan Hunter: http://www.house.gov/hunter
National Immigration Forum: http://www.immigrationforum.org
Federation for American Immigration Reform: http://www.fairus.org
May 11, 2006
WTC Staircase
WTC Staircase Leads Endangered Sites List
By DEVLIN BARRETT (Associated Press Writer)
From Associated PressMay 11, 2006 8:27 AM EDT
WASHINGTON - Anyplace else, the scarred concrete steps would be an eyesore. At ground zero on Sept. 11, 2001, they were a last chance for escape. Now they stand as the last surviving above-ground piece of the World Trade Center.
The "Survivors Staircase" was named one of the nation's most endangered historic places Wednesday, along with whole swaths of New Orleans and Mississippi damaged by Hurricane Katrina.
By singling out the staircase and sections of the South, the National Trust for Historic Preservation is seeking to preserve areas hit by the two biggest American disasters of recent memory. Katrina, noted Trust president Richard Moe, "damaged more historic homes than any event in the history of the country."
The Trust is a private nonprofit group founded in 1949.
In New York, the rumbling of construction around ground zero has weakened the staircase, and it is not included in plans for a new tower.
To Sept. 11 survivor Patty Clark, the Trade Center staircase is "symbolic of all of us who were witnesses to that day. It's still strong, somewhat damaged, but that's kind of like we all are."
Clark and other employees of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey used the staircase to escape Tower 1 after the terror attacks in New York.
She had already walked down 65 flights of stairs when she got to the World Trade Center plaza. Debris from Tower 2, which had just collapsed, filled the plaza, leaving the open-air staircase as the only way out. She and other employees followed the stairs down to ground level at Vesey Street and raced north, escaping just minutes before their own tower collapsed.
"For people who got out of the building, it was by steps, so steps are very important to the people who lived," she said.
Supporters say they could live with seeing the staircase moved in order to preserve it, as long as it isn't placed far from its original site.
Moe said most people don't know the staircase remains, since it is closed to the public. "It's an enormously important artifact," he said.
In the South, historic Mississippi towns and New Orleans neighborhoods face wholesale demolition after the 2005 hurricane.
Moe said development pressures may lead towns and property owners to relax building codes and replace historic homes rather than repair them.
"They need the assurance that the rush to rebuild won't destroy the historic character that the wind and the water didn't sweep away," he said.
Also cited on the Trust's new list of endangered historic places are the retirement home of Confederate President Jefferson Davis and Pascagoula's La-Point-Krebs House.
"Katrina represents the greatest cultural disaster in the history of the country, in addition to being a great human disaster," said Moe.
Also named by the group were whole sections of New Orleans, including the lower Ninth Ward, Mid-City, Holy Cross and South Lakeview.
"We're not talking about the expensive homes, we're talking about the low and moderate income homes, the shotgun cottages, the Creole homes. This is the heart and soul of New Orleans," Moe said.
Also named to the most endangered list were:
- The Smithsonian Arts & Industries Building in Washington.
- Blair Mountain Battlefield in Logan County, W.Va.
- Doo Wop Motels in Wildwood, N.J.
- Fort Snelling Upper Post in Hennepin County, Minn.
- Kenilworth, Ill.
- Kootenai Lodge in Bigfork, Mont.
- Mission San Miguel Arcangel in San Miguel, Calif.
- Over-the-Rhine Neighborhood in Cincinnati.
Kenilworth, a northern suburb of Chicago, was chosen as an example of the intense development pressure to tear down early 20th century homes and replace them with what the group decries as hulking mansions.
"It's a phenomenon we're seeing everywhere I go, and it's probably the most pervasive threat to historic communities," said Moe.
---
On the Net:
National Trust for Historic Preservation: http://www.nationaltrust.org
By DEVLIN BARRETT (Associated Press Writer)
From Associated PressMay 11, 2006 8:27 AM EDT
WASHINGTON - Anyplace else, the scarred concrete steps would be an eyesore. At ground zero on Sept. 11, 2001, they were a last chance for escape. Now they stand as the last surviving above-ground piece of the World Trade Center.
The "Survivors Staircase" was named one of the nation's most endangered historic places Wednesday, along with whole swaths of New Orleans and Mississippi damaged by Hurricane Katrina.
By singling out the staircase and sections of the South, the National Trust for Historic Preservation is seeking to preserve areas hit by the two biggest American disasters of recent memory. Katrina, noted Trust president Richard Moe, "damaged more historic homes than any event in the history of the country."
The Trust is a private nonprofit group founded in 1949.
In New York, the rumbling of construction around ground zero has weakened the staircase, and it is not included in plans for a new tower.
To Sept. 11 survivor Patty Clark, the Trade Center staircase is "symbolic of all of us who were witnesses to that day. It's still strong, somewhat damaged, but that's kind of like we all are."
Clark and other employees of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey used the staircase to escape Tower 1 after the terror attacks in New York.
She had already walked down 65 flights of stairs when she got to the World Trade Center plaza. Debris from Tower 2, which had just collapsed, filled the plaza, leaving the open-air staircase as the only way out. She and other employees followed the stairs down to ground level at Vesey Street and raced north, escaping just minutes before their own tower collapsed.
"For people who got out of the building, it was by steps, so steps are very important to the people who lived," she said.
Supporters say they could live with seeing the staircase moved in order to preserve it, as long as it isn't placed far from its original site.
Moe said most people don't know the staircase remains, since it is closed to the public. "It's an enormously important artifact," he said.
In the South, historic Mississippi towns and New Orleans neighborhoods face wholesale demolition after the 2005 hurricane.
Moe said development pressures may lead towns and property owners to relax building codes and replace historic homes rather than repair them.
"They need the assurance that the rush to rebuild won't destroy the historic character that the wind and the water didn't sweep away," he said.
Also cited on the Trust's new list of endangered historic places are the retirement home of Confederate President Jefferson Davis and Pascagoula's La-Point-Krebs House.
"Katrina represents the greatest cultural disaster in the history of the country, in addition to being a great human disaster," said Moe.
Also named by the group were whole sections of New Orleans, including the lower Ninth Ward, Mid-City, Holy Cross and South Lakeview.
"We're not talking about the expensive homes, we're talking about the low and moderate income homes, the shotgun cottages, the Creole homes. This is the heart and soul of New Orleans," Moe said.
Also named to the most endangered list were:
- The Smithsonian Arts & Industries Building in Washington.
- Blair Mountain Battlefield in Logan County, W.Va.
- Doo Wop Motels in Wildwood, N.J.
- Fort Snelling Upper Post in Hennepin County, Minn.
- Kenilworth, Ill.
- Kootenai Lodge in Bigfork, Mont.
- Mission San Miguel Arcangel in San Miguel, Calif.
- Over-the-Rhine Neighborhood in Cincinnati.
Kenilworth, a northern suburb of Chicago, was chosen as an example of the intense development pressure to tear down early 20th century homes and replace them with what the group decries as hulking mansions.
"It's a phenomenon we're seeing everywhere I go, and it's probably the most pervasive threat to historic communities," said Moe.
---
On the Net:
National Trust for Historic Preservation: http://www.nationaltrust.org
May 09, 2006
My Beloved Friend
My Beloved Friend
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
At eight weeks of age
more than just a ball of fluff
our bond was instant
***
I fell in love with
sparkeling brown puppy eyes
and a sweet smile
***
Wet from a flea dip
I opened my heart to him
and adopted him
***
My beloved friend
saw me through good times and bad
Sensitive like me
***
Silly, playful, fun
teasing his feline brother
bonding within days
***
Protective, loyal
spirited, smart, handsome, kind
a family member
***
Great with the children
being patient while little
hands tugged on his tail
***
Somehow he just knew
the little ones were learning
not to pull on him
***
It happened one day
The day I was long dreading
Time to let him go
***
I called my sister
She confirmed that it was time
Time to say Good-Bye
***
I cried my eyes out
We took pictures with the kids
then went to the vet
***
They called out his name
I had Liz tell him Good-bye
turning for the door
***
I began to cry
He had been in pain all night
soon to be pain free
***
Petting and kissing
I placed him on the table
Sadness filled the room
***
I think that he knew
He passed hearing my voice
looking at my face
***
I told him to go
join OJ, Trudy, Slider
Penny and Rascal
***
The wound is still fresh
My heart is still aching for
My Beloved Friend
***
In Memory of Scooter
June 1994 ~ November 2005
***
The best pet I've ever had.
May 07, 2006
I needed to vent on my previous post. Sometimes I think I live too close to the border. I just wish SOMEONE would come up with a humane, responsible solution to our immigration problems.
Onto other things....
I found a quote I like....
Onto other things....
I found a quote I like....
Do, or do not. There is no try.- Yoda, The Empire Strikes Back
I took the girls to the Zoo this week. We became members because my oldest is ALWAYS asking me to take her to the zoo. As a member, now I can take her more than once per year. Her first choice was to go see the snakes. It's a good thing her Grandma's (any of them) weren't there because they all can't stand snakes. If her Great-Great Grandmother Miller were alive, snakes wouldn't have bothered her one bit. She used to go into her garden & chop the heads off Bull snakes (?) with her garden hoe. She was a true old fashioned Grandma. She was a vanishing breed when I was young. I was very fortunate to have memories of such a kind & gentle woman.
ANYWAY, we saw the snakes, fish & prairie dogs then it was off to the Giraffes. In the same exhibit with Giraffes they have Gazelle, Emu, Crowned Cranes & some others. I can't remember what right now though. After that were the Elephants, Monkey Island & the orangutan. Finally came the water Playground, the gift shop & home. Lunch was in there somewhere too. We saw a small part of the zoo & were inside the zoo for 4 hours. It didn't matter to me, especially being members. She had fun. That was the main thing.
Today we went to Tombstone, Arizona. I hadn't been since I took my friend Shannon since forever ago. Now the main street has been covered in gravel instead of pavement. Much more authentic. We saw a wild west show, had some lunch & saw Boothill Graveyard. Of course we looked in many shops, buying MAINLY postcards for my Postcrossing activities but we had fun doing it. Elizabeth did get to pet a trick horse & posed for pictures with it & it's owner "Dallas Kate". I can't remember the horses name ( I think it was Shiloh) has been voted the top trick horse in the nation for the past 10 years. All of the animals in her shows have been rescued from shelters, horse sales & agencies place abused &/or neglected animals. Her animals will be in an upcoming episode of Animal Stars on Animal Planet. In the show we attended she used two horses, 3 Boston Terriers & a Donkey. It was a lighthearted & entertaining show. Both of the girls seemed to have a ball watching it.
That is about all for now. I am tired & sleepy cause it was a LONG day for me. I am headed to bed.
Goodnight all!
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