Spectacular sunrise this morning at the beach

One of the best I've ever seen on any beach. Took quite a few shots as the sky was changing colors, but these three show the progression pretty well.

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At the beach

Just a couple of shots from my beach walk with Snowy this morning.



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First gay couple to wed in Wake County on front page of the Raleigh paper today!

MY LTTE is the lead letter in Raleigh paper today defending Clay Aiken's run for Congress

against the not popular Rep. Renee Ellmers in the gerrymandered NC District #2!


Background: In a debate last Monday, Ellmers repeatedly dismissed Aiken as just an "entertainer",
and her campaign/followers like to deride him as coming in second in a talent contest.

I sent a letter the next day to the paper--commenting that, gee, didn't the Republicans revere
and idolize a former entertainer--a Hollywood actor--oh, yes, that guy named Ronald Reagan?

They didn't publish that letter--but they did publish this one:

Regarding the Oct. 7 news article “ Aiken, Ellmers clash”: I don’t know whether Clay Aiken would be an effective politician. However, U.S. Rep. Renee Ellmers’ repeated comments in the recent debate that Aiken is merely an “entertainer” who doesn’t understand how Washington works were an interesting choice of words.

Perhaps Ellmers needs to explore the background of perhaps the most successful Republican politician of her lifetime. His last name is Reagan, and his movies can be seen on AMC from time to time.

Bruce Friend

Holly Springs

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/10/07/4214935/bruce-friend-recalling-reagan.html?sp=/99/108/165/#storylink=cpy


The NEXT day, there was this letter from a Reagan idolizer:

Regarding the Oct. 8 letter “ Recalling Reagan”: Comparing Clay Aiken to Ronald Reagan is a sophomoric and predictably shallow observation from the chronic lefty Reagan bashers.

The letter-writer forgot to mention that Reagan was a two-term governor of the country’s largest state, almost won the party nomination in 1976 from a sitting president and was also president of the Screen Actors Guild.

However, in our current pop culture-infused political environment, I suppose runners-up in a talent contest are prime candidates for office. I haven’t seen Aiken’s resume so please let me know if I have left anything out.

Charlie Futch

Fuquay-Varina


Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/10/08/4217558/charlie-futch-reagan-had-experience.html?sp=/99/108/165/#storylink=cpy

Well, of course that burned me up. These Republicans are such hypocritical idiots. So I sent the following letter, which
was published today! I really enjoyed sticking it to Ellmers and her defender. The only editing the paper did was to leave
out Fred Dalton Thompson's middle name--which I had included.


Regarding the Oct. 9 letter, “ Reagan’s experience”: The writer misses the point, as does U.S. Rep. Renee Ellmers when she chooses to dismiss her Democratic challenger, Clay Aiken, as just an “entertainer.”

There have been a number of successful actors/singers/entertainers who have ended up in politics: Clint Eastwood, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jesse Ventura, Al Franken, Sonny Bono, Fred Thompson, Shirley Temple and George Murphy are among the better known to have made the leap from the stage to the political arena.

They all started with that first run for office, including Ronald Reagan, and that’s the point where Aiken is right now. The voters will decide whether he will join that list, and hopefully their decision-making process will be focused on how well he can best represent their needs, not on how he previously made his living.

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/10/10/4222897/betty-buller-whitehead-aikens.html?sp=/99/108/165/#storylink=cpy

Pumpkin eater busted--just caught the squirrel

who has been working over the pumpkin on our front steps since I brought it home from the market
at the end of September! I thought I'd already decided on my October texture photo--but I have another one of
this guy that is making me think twice about my previous decision!

Check out this damn squirrel:


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Who's out looking at the moon tonight?

These are from our back deck in Chapel Hill


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Most amazing video of saving the life of a humpback whale

Narrated in English.

Architects of the political regression in NC called out in opinion piece

This opinion piece, by a Chancellor Emeritus of the University of North Carolina at Wilmington ran in today's edition
of the Raleigh News & Observer. It's an excellent summary of the political history of the state.

For Tar Heel time, set your clock back 100 years


For many years, North Carolina was known as the Rip Van Winkle state because it was so backward. Stingy public officials and business tycoons wanted low wages and low taxes so there was little investment in civic needs. Roads and other public facilities were ignored while education of the state’s youth was minimal.

<snip>

In the 1960s North Carolina experienced a transformation, melding with the modern world.

Governors Kerr Scott, Luther Hodges and Terry Sanford moved to join the mainstream. While Scott, Hodges and Sanford initiated the modernization momentum, it was in 1977 when Jim Hunt became governor that the state began the steady climb in education, civic improvements and broader prosperity. Critical to Hunt’s success was recruiting the business community and selling it on his agenda of public education, government services and modest environmental protection as critical to industrial and economic advancement.

The Research Triangle Park blossomed into a high-tech, high-wage and high-skilled business recruiting dynamo. Charlotte emerged as one of the nation’s leading financial centers while other areas of the state saw schools, community colleges and universities provide a trained labor force. The state’s national ranking rose under Democrat Jim Hunt and Republican Jim Martin (28th capita income in 2000). It seemed this new course had been irreversibly set.

<snip>

Ironically, it might have been the election of 2008 that sparked the GOP sweep of 2010. The Red State Project headed by Ed Gillespie and Karl Rove determined that to control a state and ultimately the federal government, they needed to take a sufficient number of state legislatures in a census year – thus controlling legislative redistricting. With that prize in view, Pope and Americans for Prosperity poured in millions. Republicans swept to victory in both the state House and Senate in 2010. They then imposed a redistricting plan that maximized the GOP strength and will likely keep them in place for at least the next decade.

<snip>

Now comes the 2014 election. In this off-year contest, incumbent Democrat Kay Hagan is locked in a tough race against Republican House Speaker Thom Tillis. When Tillis won the GOP primary, it was curiously hailed as a victory for the mainstream despite the fact that Tillis leads tea party forces in the legislature. Over $20 million of out-of-state money has poured in to defeat Hagan – control of the U.S. Senate hangs in the balance. Will the election be determined on the effectiveness of voter suppression efforts or will voter discontent for what is going on in Raleigh outweigh discontent with Washington government and the U.S. Congress?



Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/08/29/4106160/for-tar-heel-time-set-your-clock.html?sp=/99/108/374/#storylink=cpy

Another 18th Century marvelous automaton

is the The Peacock Clock that was a gift to Catherine the Great of Russia.

We saw it--not working--in The Hermitage when we were in St. Petersburg last May.




Here's a brief video explaining its origin and showing some of it working. There are lots more videos of it on youtube.

If you want to see statistics regarding suicide, this is a good resource