First Looks category archive

On the deck, which faces south, I have two potted roses. Last night, when the sun was well around to the west and the deck was covered by shade, I glanced out to see that some of the leaves on the roses were glinting gold.

I managed to snap a picture. Five minute later, the glints were gone.

My best guess is that the rays from the setting sun were bouncing off a window across the street and hitting the roses. Here’s a picture followed by a close up.

Full Disclosure: Because these were taken in evening light, I did tinker with the brightness, contrast, anti-aliasing (no, I don’t know what it is other than a menu choice either), and color balance in the GIMP to try to bring out the glints. The golden glints were not as pronounced in the photo as they were to the eye.

Redwing Park

Filipino American Friendship Day, July 3, Redwing Park, 1398 General Booth Blvd., Virginia Beach, Virginia, 9:30 a. m. till dark.

Details.

One too many quotes of the day.

I’m moving one elsewhere and will reuse it later.

[blush]

. . . the claims behind which have been totally discredited.

Whooping cough, also called pertussis, has killed five infants across California since the beginning of the year, officials said, though none of those deaths were in San Mateo County.

“There have been 35 pertussis cases reported this year, which is more than four times the number reported by this time last year,” San Mateo County Health Officer Dr. Scott Morrow said in a statement.

John Cole on Dave Weigel.

I remember hearing them on the Arthur Godfrey Show:

Watch for the reaction:

Mr Suppes, 32, is part of a growing community of “fusioneers” – amateur science junkies who are building homemade fusion reactors, for fun and with an eye to being part of the solution to that problem.

He is the 38th independent amateur physicist in the world to achieve nuclear fusion from a homemade reactor, according to community site Fusor.net. Others on the list include a 15-year-old from Michigan and a doctoral student in Ohio.

I will try to restrain my skepticism. Henry Ford built his first quadricycle started in a stable.

Details at Blue Virginia.

Afterwards join Hands across the Sand (see the link on the sidebar, over there ————————->); bring sunscreen.

Clear and present dangers (and pelicans) are for wimps.

Via DownWithTyranny, who points out the internal contradictions of Teabaggery, which amount to this: Teabaggers want the world fixed, but don’t want anyone actually to take action to fix it.

It is Magickal Thinking.

It’s their Catch 22, the Best Catch There Is.

Albert Hunt at Bloomberg rounds up two-party weirdness. The article is worth your while for a little perspective. A nugget:

It took Republican Senator John Ensign, though, to put Nevada in serious contention with South Carolina. While living in a self-styled Christian group house on Capitol Hill, he had an affair with the wife of a top aide and allegedly sought to cover it up. His parents gave $96,000 to the ex-employee, his wife and two kids; Ensign called it severance pay, others hush money. The figure seemed odd until it was disclosed that both of Ensign’s parents gave $12,000 to each of the four members of the aide’s family, the maximum allowed without having to file a gift tax return with the Internal Revenue Service. Ensign is under investigation by the Senate Ethics Committee.

Illinois gets honorable mention and Louisiana is included for historical perspective.

Not enough good news. The best news would be to ban it.

From Facing South:

In a decision being hailed by environmental advocates, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has suspended a program that streamlined the permitting process for mountaintop removal coal mining across Appalachia.The suspension of the Nationwide Permit 21 program is effective immediately and applies to Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.

More at the link.

The Boston Globe on the moratorium on lobstering off Cape Cod:

As climate change warms the waters, lobsters have grown more susceptible to disease, and their numbers have dwindled significantly. Shrinking lobster populations affect local economies; moratorium or no, it’s the fishermen who will take it on the chin.

What’s happening to Cape Cod’s lobstermen is a strong indicator of what to expect over the next decades, as the changing climate cripples indigenous ecosystems in unpredictable ways.

I can get behind this:

Gov. Bob McDonnell’s administration is exploring new ways to get Virginia at least partially out of the liquor business.

Virginia should get completely out of the liquor business, except for licensing and regulation. Some things are best suited for private enterprise; some things only the government can do.

Regulating pollution is a government thing.

Retail sales is a private enterprise thing.

I have lived in Northern Virginia, where I patronized privately-owned liquor stores in Washington, D. C., because there was price competition, though I did buy wine at my local Virginia Safeway, where there was also price competition.

I have lived in Delaware and worked in New Jersey, both of which have private liquor stores and price competition.

I have also lived in Pennsylvania, whose alcohol sales regulations are absolutely and completely insane. You buy spirits and wine at state stores, except that wineries can operate their own stores, but sell only their own vintages. You buy beer at beer distributors, but only in case lots. If you want a six pack, you can buy one at certain bars, but you pay bar prices–in other words, a six pack can cost anything from $3.00 to $ 6.00 a container, or $18.00 to $36.00. Or more. (Needless to say, the largest lobby against reforming Pennsylvania liquor laws is the beer distributors association, closely followed by the Pa. Liquor Control Board.) You can buy a Coca-Cola at the local Safeway.

I have visited Indiana and other states where, apparently, almost anyone can sell spirits. I remember my surprise on entering a pharmacy in Beech Grove, Indiana, where my employer at the time had a major facility, and seeing a wall of spirits on display.

Virginia’s ABC system is a holdover from Prohibition. It was designed upon repeal to protect the citizenry from Demon Rum by attaching a stigma to buying it. It was likely designed by a legislature that was half shot on moonshine at the time, but that’s a different story.

I remember, when I was a young ‘un, looking into the ABC store next to the barbershop where my father tormented me with my biweekly haircut. The clerks wore uniforms. You could not browse the shelves; the stock was all behind the counter. The idea was to keep you away from Demon Rum or, at least, to make purchasing it an unpleasant and intimidating experience. (No one talked publicly of the still in the woods behind the county seat.)

Heck, I can remember when you couldn’t order scotch-rocks-water-on-the-side in a Virgina restaurant. Liquor by the drink was a big deal when it came along 40 years ago.

Aside:

I must say that, upon my return to Virginia, I was mildly surprised that ABC stores are now quite pleasant, with open shelves and clerks dressed in civies. The staff at my local ABC store is friendly, pleasant, and competent.

“The one primary roll for government is to protect people who are being taken advantage of . . . .”

The Republican Party, now, as then, the Party of Privilege.

Via Left of the Hill.

. . . but still a step:

The state is giving $800,000 in federal stimulus money to James Madison University for the development of a small wind training and testing facility in Harrisonburg.

Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling, Virginia’s chief jobs creation officer, announced the money during an appearance today at the State Wind Energy Symposium hosted by the Virginia Wind Energy Collaborative and held at JMU.

Thoreau considers how to treat buccaneers.