America's 62 active nuclear power plants

For those interested in interactive map sites:

http://esrimedia.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapTour/index.html?appid=0c46cd1e8ee04cf693acd2790614a68a#map

Go ahead while away the hours.....

You are welcome

Balboa Island, A reflection of the world today?

Eelgrass clings to lines in Balboa's Grand Canal

My childhood friend from kindergarten days sent me this article from the Los Angeles Times Balboa's troubled channel.  We are both way into our seventies and nudging eighty maybe a little to hard but our memories are still good and we both have very fond ones of this area of Southern California. This is where we spent endless summer hours and days as little kids and even today Mollie pays homage to the delicious frozen bananas of Balboa Island, they like hot dogs at a major league ballpark, taste better there than any place else.

Seventy plus years ago the area was much different then it is today. In those days there was more sand and open space, cleaner water and fewer people and boats. Less need to worry about competing for time and space - the environment and man co-exhisted much more amicably.

But in our childhood days we unknowingly became the problem that exists today. You see we grew up in an Eden, had children and those children had more children. Most wanted to stay, build homes - lots of homes, have boats - lots of them as well. The environment didn't grow and expand it was just forced to accept what man brought to it and it tried to adapt as best it could.

At some point push does become shove and the fragile environment always seems to get the short end of the stick. We just haven't learned, or don't want to accept, that survival in the long term will be achieved only with respect for the place we inhabit.

As I read about the eelgrass and its plight I couldn't help but be reminded of the chaos in the world today - the grasses "a life-giving environment for fish, crabs, snails and seabirds...have become an unyielding enemy" to others.

Where Have All the Children Gone...........?

In the midst of rising civilian deaths in Gaza the United Nations urges a "humanitarian ceasefire". Forgive me but I find the use of those two words together almost comical. War today isn't engaged in some delineated battlefield away from civilians.

Today war is brought into classrooms and playgrounds and down main streets. The United Nations is looking into bringing war crime charges against Israel for its attack on a school in Gaza, and now a playground. Personally I think it should be a crime to engage in war period.

If there are issues that need to be resolved using sticks and stones is not the civilized alternative. Man's ability to use the brain has shrunk in capacity compared to the ability to inflict harm.

In eastern Ukraine almost 800 civilians have been killed since mid-April and more than 2,100 wounded. And in Gaza in the last twenty-one days 1,049 civilians are dead and 167,000 Palestinians civilians seek refuge from the conflict.

Oh, when we ever learn?

Heavy, Dark and Somber - The Classics Set the Tone for Today

Vermisstes Flugzeug: Auch Deutsche an Bord?

Das Auswärtige Amt hat noch keine Gewissheit, ob an Bord des vermissten algerischen Flugzeugs auch Deutsche waren. Eine Sprecherin des Ministeriums sagte, man bemühe sich mit Hochdruck um Aufklärung. Nach Angaben der Fluggesellschaft Air Algérie befanden sich unter den 116 Insassen vier Deutsche. Etwa die Hälfte der Passagiere seien Franzosen gewesen. Das Flugzeug befand sich auf dem Weg von Burkina Faso nach Algier. Etwa 50 Minuten nach dem Start riss der Funkkontakt ab. Der französische Außenminister Fabius erklärte inzwischen, wahrscheinlich sei die Maschine abgestürzt. Im Norden von Mali werde intensiv nach dem Wrack gesucht. © MDR INFO

Tote bei Angriff auf UN-Schule im Gazastreifen

Bei einem israelischen Angriff auf eine Schule im Gazastreifen sind mindestens neun Menschen getötet worden. Wie die Nachrichtenagentur AFP weiter berichtete, ist unter den Opfern auch ein einjähriges Kind. Die palästinensischen Rettungskräfte sprachen von 15 Toten und Dutzenden Verletzten. Die Schule war von den Vereinten Nationen betrieben worden. In das Gebäude hatten sich zahlreiche Palästinenser vor der israelischen Militäroffensive geflüchtet. © MDR INFO

~ ~ ~

Another plane with 116 passengers onboard goes missing. Israeli attack on UN operated school in Gaza killing children. Really the world has gone mad.

I'm at work writing. It is the Fall of 1917 and America prepares for entry into World War I. I clutch my uncle's letters tightly knowing this small stack of paper is all that I left of him. I can't alter history.

Today's news stories can't be changed either. But tomorrow's can... 

Roman Daze

This morning's news:  “An Israeli soldier is missing following a deadly battle in the Gaza Strip, a defense official said as Israeli airstrikes pummeled a wide range of targets in the coastal strip and diplomatic efforts intensified to end more than two weeks of fighting that has killed at least 585 Palestinians and 29 Israelis.”  ~ HuffPost

Why don't we just gather up everyone that wants to fight and kill and put them into the area for a battle to the death. The innocents can come and watch and jeer if they want to but remain safe in their luxury box seats.

At the rate the world is going this placed could be booked 24/7 and even surpass the World Cup in fever ratings.

"Bring on the lions."

Ukraine Wheat Field

file:///Users/HP_Owner/Desktop/hchfdjaf.jpg

From on the ground observer in Ukraine, this concise report: "So Russians are going into the open, killing and murdering innocent people disguising their aggression as anti-fascist movement. These assholes have occupied our territory, are waging war on our land and are calling US fascists?! Truly, zombies have no reason. Tell me, if Putin has some personal issues, why does our wheat fields have to look like this?" (attached photo) "V"

Bloggers-Block

Was sitting here trying to figure out something to say and then thought, "Why should I ruin both our day."  Just enjoy. Life is good. Right here, this spot and now.

Original Social Media

I was just listening to Reid Hoffman, Co-Founder of Linkedin, guest on the Charlie Rose Show. Now I know this is not suppose to be funny but when he was talking about social media and said "contact by referral" I almost fell on the floor laughing.

In my day "contact by referral" was what happened in the back seat of a car.

Who do you remember?

As much as I would like to deny it I was one of those O. J. Trial watchers. Too many people know my history, how I was glued to the TV or had my VCR working overtime. It would be easier for me to say 'I never inhaled' than to try to get away saying I never watched the slow-speed chase or almost every minute of the trial on television.

Read an interesting but a bit of a tongue in cheek article in the June issue of Vanity Fair "It All Began with O. J." how this was really the start of reality television. The interesting thing is how many of today's reality T.V. stars can be connected back to O. J. Simpson. Just so weird.

Time for a Change

I think I have figured out what is wrong with the world today. We need to change how men dress. Simple as that.

Friday (Any Friday Really) Wake Up

   
Our little non-world-reknowned Jazz Fest was held a couple of weeks ago. The music was cool the way jazz was intended to be.

There were many toe-tappers in attendance but these were particularly happy feet.

And it wouldn't be right if I didn't get myself into the act. Bringing love were ever I show up.

Not a full moon, not even a paper moon, but this orb of light caught my eye and ended up captured in my camera.

And that is a very simplified statement of how my and this Friday begins for me today.

~ ~ ~ 

There's an ecstatic side to writing. It's like jazz. It just has a life. ~ Alice Walker

Turning Inward for Your Enjoyment

Self-centered ~  "Too interested in yourself and not caring about the needs or feelings of other people."   *** Webster

I prefer a non-Webster definition that simply say ~ "preoccupied with oneself and one's affairs."

This is where I am heading. I have things to do, things to complete. For awhile now this blog is going to be solely about me. We'll see how long it takes for you to get bored with it all.

I am able to do this at this time because I had a barroom hand wrestle match with Rush Limbaugh over the word "I" and I WON.

And all those "K" girls were sobbing in their mansion bedrooms that I even dared to challenge the fact that there was someone else on this earth that had an important life as well.

So get ready folks, the ride might get bumpy.

Fourth of July American Style

~

“SOME writers have so confounded society with government, as to leave little or no distinction between them; whereas they are not only different, but have different origins. Society is produced by our wants, and government by wickedness; the former promotes our happiness positively by uniting our affections, the latter negatively by restraining our vices. The one encourages intercourse, the other creates distinctions. The first is a patron, the last a punisher.” 
― Thomas Paine, Common Sense

~

“The walls of the educational system must come down. Education should not be a privilege, so the children of those who have money can study.” 
― Ernesto Guevara, Che Guevara Talks to Young People

“A country that does not know how to read and write is easy to deceive.” 
― Ernesto Guevara

~

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” 
― Martin Luther King Jr.

#