Available May 22, Harvey Milk Day in California.
USPS Honors Harvey Milk with a stamp
April 21, 2014
Gay, News equality, Harvey Milk, LGBT, lgbtq, Post office issues Harvey Milk stamp, USPS Leave a comment
California’s Drought Spurs Watering Restrictions
April 18, 2014
News city council enacts water restrictions, climate change, drought restrictions, Global Warming, visalia, visalia water restrictions 1 Comment
Visalia’s City Council recently invoked severe water use restrictions for landscaping and car washing.
Here’s the info on the rules, now in effect in Visalia, brazenly appropriated from the City’s own website:
Odd = Addresses ending in an odd number (1, 3, 5, 7, 9)
Even = Addresses ending in an even number (0, 2, 4, 6, 8)
Throwback Thursday: July, 1958
April 17, 2014
commentary, Personal El Paso, Jimmie Reeves, throw back thursday, USAF 3 Comments
It’s July, 1958. El Paso, Texas. “Big Jimmie”, as he will come to be called by his family now that he has a “Little Jimmie”, turned 20 this month, and is an airman in the United States Air Force. When I selected the picture for this week’s “Throwback Thursday”, I noticed something I hadn’t seen before. I’ve always seen him in pictures of me, and that gets truer the older I get. Until today, however, I had never noticed my Mother in me. I see her in this one, however. Something in my face reminds me of her, and I wonder why I never noticed it before. I also see many of my other relatives. Or rather I see the common familial features we all tend to have as infants. We might all look very different as we grow up, but you can certainly tell we’re all related in our baby pictures.
Oddly, it reminds me of how I first became aware of Keanu Reeves.
Lunar Geek – “Blood” Moon Eclipse
April 15, 2014
commentary, geek blood moon, lunar eclipse, orbital dynamics, warning from god Leave a comment
A Lunar eclipse occurred last night, with the Moon slipping into the Earth’s shadow. The refraction of light through the Earth’s atmosphere created the reddish hue, not quite darkening our sister planet. (The Earth and Moon are more accurately a binary planet system, rather than a primary and satellite system.)
The term “Blood Moon” seems to be the result of the media glomming onto a doomsday prophet, ‘end of the world’, God is coming book seller. It doesn’t seem to have any historical relevance, but since it’s caught the fancy of reporters around the world, we’re stuck with it. Some have gone so far as to claim it’s a sign from God, warning President Obama (about something… pick a wingnut cause and use that, for all the sense they make).
Several more of these eclipses will happen in the next few years, just as they’ve happened ever since the Moon reached it’s current orbital distance from the Earth. (the Moon used to be much closer to Earth, but tidal friction and orbital dynamics have been moving it further away ever since it formed. Using devices left on there by the Apollo missions, we can measure that movement precisely.)
Space Cadet Jimmiejoe contributed to this blog.
Being a medical alert dog isn’t easy…having a medical alert dog isn’t easy.
April 7, 2014
It’s a shame local business people don’t understand the law, and basic human decency. TEDG, it might be reasonable to reconsider the June 17 dinner location.
Mars Space Geek – Curiosity seen from orbit
April 6, 2014
geek Curiosity, HiRISE, Mars, NASA pics, space science Leave a comment
Curiosity, on Mars, from orbit. Photo taken by HiRISE. Just wow.
To give you a sense of scale, here’s the Curiosity’s twin on Earth:
Science!
(and, as an aside… if NASA can take pictures like this from orbit, and release them, can you imagine what spy satellites are capable of these days? It boggles the mind. Next time you’re outside, look up, smile, and wave. It’ll give the CIA and NSA guys something to wonder about!)
Doin’ the hardware thang
April 5, 2014
commentary, Humor, Personal aisle wanderings, Home Depot, home repair, Homo Depot, mr fixit Leave a comment
Searching Home Depot for a light fixture to replace one that failed. I only had to walk the aisles twice before I found what I was looking for. The staff is usually helpful, but I seldom ask where things are located, and the guys I did see working the floor were… shall we say… not the type to make me break old habits and ask for help. I hear so much about those stores, but I never see anything! I must be going at the wrong hours. 😉
JimmieJoe 
The Internet as Time Capsule
April 23, 2014
Jim Reeves commentary, Personal wanda bergman, Wanda Reeves, Woodlake, woodlake junior high 2 Comments
My family has roots in Woodlake, a small community 20 miles northeast of Visalia. A while back I joined a Facebook page “You know you’re from Woodlake if…” Today, while scanning a picture someone posted, I spotted my mother. She’s in a 7th grade class picture, taken on November 10, 1953. She’s 14 here. You can spot her in the back row, 5th from the left. I’m amazed at how many of my nieces I can see in her face, looking out from 61 years ago. What’s more amazing to me, is that in 4 years, she’ll be married and a mother.
I thought WordPress would allow the image to be clickable to a larger version, but apparently not. Here’s an enlargement of the section my Mother is in:
Wanda Faye Bergman (later, Reeves) Top row, middle.
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