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- * Listing of Entries #1: Archived by Category: An extensive, sql alphabetized site grouping is available. Be patient and you will be rewarded. The listing is long!
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The making of Inside the Meltdown by Frontline Producer, Michael Kirk of WGBH, Boston.
Sample Postings: 6 of the most recent entries ordered by date
[ Sunday, February 29, 2004 14:03 PDT ]
Sunday in the Heartland
Section:
Summary:
A new nickel, the passing of Daniel Boorstein and the Glory of Nature in the West
Main:
Today, it is not the Oscar and the Academy Awards in Hollywood that are on the Heartlander’s radar screen.
First, the United State Mint has announced new design for the nickel called the Westward Journey Nickel Series.
Second, the American Experience author, Daniel Boorstin, formerly head of the Library of Congress, is in the nytimes.com Obits. He is but one example of an authentic writer about the American West.
Third, Emma, Jon and Erika Little with Bupa in tow took a Sunday bike ride to the edge of Putah Creek on the western portion of the UC Davis campus. It was flowing and full. It is part of the water cycle that annually helps to recharge the local aquifers, a leading source of summer agricultural water for irrigation of tomatoes, longthe leading local cash crop. The young generated gets the asthetic, natural and economic importance of water, an endlessly recycled and sustainable resource.
Two year old Emma, now a potty trained preschooler, announced that she is sure that there are salmon in the Creek and that she is ready for summer swimming lessons.
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[ Saturday, February 28, 2004 13:42 PDT ]
A Saturday Stroll in the Heartland
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Summary:
Observations at Ground level: the morning media, message from the market, pool chat, and Campus briefs
Main:
NOW on PBS presented two interview of interest to Hearllanders. First, a Latino businessman doing food processing in the mid Valley county of Tulare gave his view of the world from small town agricultural America. Second, Paul Gigot, the Pulitzer Prize winning editor of the Editorial page of the Wall Street Journal gave his. One can avoid noting the similarities they seemed to sharer. Both were sensitive about jobs and employment benefits, both were mature, informed and action oriented, both were critical of the present Administration and the alternatives offered by the national candidate offered up by the Loyal Opposition.
They and the lonely pair of newly recruited John Edwards campaign volunteers attempting with meager success to pass pamphlets at the Farmer’s Market, clearly demonstrate the reason the candidate has shifted his schedule to Georgia and Ohio. He has scant support and scarce resources in a State with a Strong Global trade economy. One suspects that Strong export trade and a Strong national defense have significant support among producers in Great Lake, Mississippi River, and Southern States. It is being to look like an early Democrat Party delegate landslide in the direction of John Kerry. The true tale will be told on Tuesday, March 2.
Meanwhile, the young students on campus are not spending their weekend on politics, pundits or polls. They are busy about the business of working their jobs, doing DAM swimming time trials, participating in a spirited traditional intrasquad Aggie Track and Field meet viewed by alumni, friends, family and recruits, and ....
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[ Friday, February 27, 2004 14:33 PDT ]
The Good News from Davis
Section:
Summary:
Sunrises and surprising views on Water in California: History, Policy, Governance, Economics, Science, Law, News and Weather, Climate.
Main:
The Good News from Davis
* The sunrise was great from the Arroyo Pool in west Davis where Stu Kahn was conduction his last Friday of the month swim surprise at 0600. It was an IM set with names taken and times recorded amidst much moaning. Challenging but fun was the consensus.
* The economics of California was next with retired UC Davis Prof Charles Moore who presented the third installment of his lectures to Senior Learning Unlimited at the Davis ART Center. He proudly passed around today’s New York Times and an Arts Section piece announcing the appointment of his daughter Rachael to the Executive Director post at the American Ballet Theater Company. He began her career as a youth at DAC.
> BTW, the good news is that the recent rains on the Yolo County plains has helped to recharge the local aquifers and help restore the groundwater table. The City of Davis, UC Davis and the surrounding farms all pump water from a variety sources. While, the Sacramento Valley is not Saudi Arabia there is concern about the carrying capacity of the region’s renewable water supply resources, particularly in sequential dry years. To date, Shasta DAM, Lake Berryessa, Orville DAM, Folsom DAM and others have helped to provide reserves for summer water use.
According to Professor Moore, the going market value of water delivered to Southern California urban users, like Golf Courses, is nearly $200 per acre ft.
The energy cost of pumping ground water is $.85 per ft per acre ft.
* Table discussion at the Davis Senior Center was understandably focused on matter of health and the cost of prescription drugs. The prevailing fear is one of abandonment to market force on the one hand and adding the burden of Social Security debit to the next generation.
Seniors may not happy in the short term, but they do understand the long term economic and social dilemma. As a group, they appear to be capable of venting their resulting frustration at the most convenient targets like incumbent political leaders and established institutions like the AARP.
Meanwhile, Google continues be useful, appreciated, innovative and copied. Google processes 200.000 queries per day; some even find their way to this address.
LinkList: California Water.
* USGS
* State Water Resources Control Board
* California Department of Water Resources
* UC Berkeley Library Archives
* BTW, we note the the PBS version of Marc Reisner’s , diatribe, Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water, has been “retired” from the PBS website.
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[ Thursday, February 26, 2004 07:43 PDT ]
Thursday Hot News you can use or ponder
Section:
Summary:
Global trade, technology transfer and the rise of the China Market is the Elephant in the Room. Japan, and the rest of East Asia as well as the EU is on the clock and ready to carry the cake.
Meanwhile, the US and the rest of the Western Hemisphere appears to be more interested in Haiti, spring baseball in Arizona and wheither Bonds “knowlingly” used under the radar screen performance enhancing substances.
Main:
Hot News Thursday;
Global:
* Economic:
> General Electric and its partners have negotiated long sought, long term market for technology agreement with China. Power generation and jet engines are at the heart of technology transfer. China out produces the US in graduate engineers 10:1. They are not content with exporting toys and textiles over the long run.
National:
* Economic
> Timber prices rise as construction continues to boom.
* Culture:
> The Passion of the Christ continues to catch the pundits with their secular bias in full view.
>> The demographic trend toward more adults living alone or as unmarried male female couple continues.
Regional:
> The candidates, the media, and the eyes of the world are turning toward California and the Oscars. The Governor is hosting a bash in you know where. It may be the toughest ticket in tinsel town. Meanwhile, Disney now has trouble with PERS (the state’s $90 billion Public Employee Retirement System). That is the kind of BIG trouble Michael and Mickey do not need.
>> BTW, you know it is a slow newsday when Walla Walla wines are featuring in the Bay Area press. But then one must have to have the just the right pairing with your crab—Right ? After Martha Stewart, where is Julia Childs when we really need her?
Local:
All of the candidate for the Davis City Council appear to support adding and .5% to the existing 7.25% sales tax. Two financial contributors to the the races and the proposition are the PACs of the Davis City Police and the Davis City Firefighter. BTW, the fast majority of fire truck dispatches are for medical 911 calls. Each call is also assisted by a private ambulance service crew with an exclusive city contract. The City of 40.000 and the campus of 20,000 are served by a total of four stations.
No candidate has proposed doing better with less Department by Department. Implementing a though analysis of city management , administrative, budgeting and contracting policies, practices and procedures would be a good first step.
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[ Wednesday, February 25, 2004 14:52 PDT ]
Wednesday: HeartLand Source material Lewis and Clark
Section:
Summary:
Remote Searching and distrbuting archieves is one the unique and powerful feature of servers and the Internet. Google indexes billions ofwebpages and other content, some spiders like isearch index server specific static content, applications like pmachine and Expression Engine have the capacity to manage and present content dynamically via SQL queries to a RDMS like MySQL an Open Source cousin of systems like Oracle and SQL Server.
Here, text searching is a priority, and is part of the search for the Holy Grail—building content with meaning and accessibility. The rest is just pretty pictures and flashy roadside billboards.
Main:
Consider the Lewis and Clark Bicenntenial (2003-2006):
* The United States government, a major funder and user of the Internet, has a multi-agency and organization educational site A celebration of western exploration, people, land, and water is a central theme. Secretary Norton of the Interior Department has recently announced the funding of the Fort Claptsop site near Astoria as a National Park.
* Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon as a number of Expedition collections based around the Voyage of Discovery. The University of Virginia presents the Jeffersonian prospective. In addition, the Library of Congress can be counter on to have an online exhibit.
* The Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation, Inc is an example of a membership driven non profit organization.
Western history, Oregon Statehood, and Fisk/Forrest/Finlan family history continue to be a focus of this site. One of the fun things to do a Christmas is to read the menu of the men who wintered at Fort Clatsop. ” Poor Elk” traded from the local Indians was as dismal as the constant damp drizzle.
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[ Tuesday, February 24, 2004 07:29 PDT ]
The Run for the Presidency of the United States of America: Round One, February 2004
Section:
Summary:
Today, President Bush announced that his administration will send to Congress a proposal to amend the Constitution of the United States for the purpose of defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman. His reasons for the proposal at this time are judicial opinions in Massachusetts and local official actions in California and New Mexico. The effect of those opinions and action is to give local and state legitimacy to same sex marriage which other state may be forced to recognize.
Main:
Speaking on radio and television from the Roosevelt in the White House, the President surprised many political pundits, by making the issue of marriage, liberal judges and elected officials a center piece of his nine month long campaign for reelection. For the next nine months one can expect that there will be a national, regional, local, pulpit, water cooler, and coffee house debate on an issue about which all voters have Strong opinions.
In making his case, the President was clear and without ambiguity. He cited natural law, common law, legislative law, global religious doctrine, national culture and history, and common sense. For example, he referenced the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act passed 85/14 in the Senate and signed by then President Clinton administration, a 2000 California Proposition 22 that is now part of the State Family Code and public polls that Americans favor male-female marriage by a 2:1 ratio. In addition, in 38 State Legislatures have passed mirrors of DOMA.
Thus, the President has place front and center a keystone domestic issue item for all the World to see, hear, discuss and form an opinion about. The President called for a civil and compassionate debate. We shall see. Both side seem to be equally capable of polemics, hot rhetoric and playing the demogogue.
Timing for effect is always part of the political calculus, the President’s announcement was made early in the week, early in the daily news cycle, on a slow news day, and at a time the National Conference of Governors is meeting in Washington, D.C. One can bet that the announcement will the buzz at State Houses around the nation.
MR. Bush was not specific today about the wording he would like to see Congress adopt in beginning the constitutional-amendment process. He did not, for instance, mention legislation proposed by Representative Marilyn Musgrave, Republican of Colorado.
Quoting from the nytimes.com Colorado Congresswoman, Marilyn Musgrave has a proposal:
The amendment that MS. Musgrave and other lawmakers are backing in the House says: “Neither this Constitution or the constitution of any state, nor state or federal law, shall be construed to require that marital status or the legal incidents thereof be conferred upon unmarried couples or groups.” The White House spokesman, Scott McClellan, said just before the president’s announcement that MR. Bush believed the Musgrave measure “meets his principles.”
As an aside, It will be interesting to hear John Kerry justify his vote against the Defense of Marriage Act as he seek justification behind the skirts of Vice President Chaney.
Meanwhile, Sex in The City is now off the air and the Mel Gibso movie, “The Passion of the Christ” als opens tomorrow, Ash Wednesday. The producer, director has been labelled “wacko” and the movie “powerful” Whatever the verdict, it appears to be big at the boxoffice and that gets attention that in Hollywood trumps raises eyebrows and finger waggling.
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