BurningbirdAnother story in the news is two new Hubble images released by NASA to celebrate the telescope’s 15 year anniversary.
The Eagle Nebula:
And the Whirlpool Galaxy:
It’s good to be reminded that life is full of moments of infinite beauty, if we only choose to see them. Even when you spill a large container of straight pens all over the bedroom carpet — see how pretty they sparkle in the light?
(Be sure to check out the Hubble Minute video on the anniversary.)
Today I was on top of the world..well, at least the top of the world here in Missouri. I finally visited Taum Sauk, the tallest point in this state. I also decided to walk the three mile Mina Sauk trail and see the Falls at the end point — the longest falls in Missouri, at over 100 feet. I had read that the trail was rugged, but thought I could manage it.
This was the toughest trail I’ve climbed in Missouri, and probably about the toughest I would climb, anywhere. The only saving factors were that it was a relatively short trail — three miles– and the weather was very, very good for hiking. But it was hard walking, too hard for me. Add to the difficulty of the trail was the fact that much of it had water over it, making footing precarious at best. I am bruised head to toe.
To add to the challenge I took my backpack filled with camera gear. The irony is that by the time I got to the Falls, all I wanted to do was go home so I took a few shots at the top and didn’t even try to make it to the bottom. Not hiking by myself, and not hiking when I’m already tired.
I did make some friends on the way — and it was a lovely day, with a lovely view. More photos out at my Flickr account, and more writing tomorrow when I stop feeling like I’m going to get sick.
I also managed to make it to the ‘high spot’, to look out over rolling hills of green and to make a shout of triumph:
Yeah
The conditions look very good for Hurricane Katrina to be a very nasty affair when it hits land. There’s little or no shear to tear it apart, and the water in the Gulf is bathtub hot. If it hits on or near New Orleans, well, this is about the most Not Good of the Not Good scenarios.
From Wunderground’s Dr. Jeff Masters’ weblog:
I’d hate to be an Emergency Management official in New Orleans right now. Katrina is pretty much following the NHC forecast, and appears likely to pass VERY close to New Orleans. I’m surprised they haven’t ordered an evacuation of the city yet. While the odds of a catastropic hit that would completely flood the city of New Orleans are probably 10%, that is way too high in my opinion to justify leaving the people in the city. If I lived in the city, I would evactuate NOW! There is a very good reason that the Coroner’s office in New Orleans keeps 10,000 body bags on hand. The risks are too great from this storm, and a weekend away from the city would be nice anyway, right? GO! New Orleans needs a full 72 hours to evacuate, and landfall is already less than 72 hours away. Get out now and beat the rush. You’re not going to have to go to work or school on Monday anyway. If an evacuation is ordered, not everyone who wants to get out may be able to do so–particularly the 60,000 poor people with no cars.
For the last few days, I’ve mainly focused on coding and the only reading I’ve done is through my aggregator, and then only enough to keep up. I finally took a moment this evening to check the news and was astonished to hear about a horrible train wreck in Japan. Saddened by the story and the pain of the family members, I was also disheartened to hear of yet another train wreck–this time in a country famous for the efficiency and safety of their rail systems.
At the BBC “Have Your Say” page one person wrote:
I am just lucky. That’s all what I can say, I missed the train by around five minutes and that’s the main reason of my being here. I don’t have words to describe such a disaster where even the trains don’t often get late. There’s a saying that ‘In Japan, if you are late by 20 seconds, then you would have missed the train exactly by 20 Seconds’. In such a country, how can anyone believe this disaster?
How, indeed.
With increased population and people having to make longer commutes and high gas prices, trains, especially commuter trains, are becoming more of a fact of life for all countries — including this car dependent country. Thank you SUV drivers for helping to make this true.
Yesterday, if you had asked me what country had the safest rail system I would have answered Japan. I would still answer the same thing today– even the safest system will fail at some point. It’s just that at 80MPH, failure has a heavy price.
Are we, as noted by some of those writing comments, trading our safety in the interests of the clock? And In the more complex rail systems needed to support ever growing population centers, where a train being five minutes late could disrupt the entire system, do we have any choice?
Sad.
How disappointing that the long fought for gay rights bill lost by one vote in Washington state. And how much this loss can be placed on Microsoft’s sudden decision to withdraw support is hard to say, other than it couldn’t have helped.
Several good writings on the issue including: original report at The Stranger, New Frames, BlueOregon, CNet and others.
If you want to see how much chatter it’s getting in weblogging, just search Technorati on Microsoft + gay — and be sure to wear your asbestos gloves.
Dare Obasanjo who works at Microsoft wrote on this. Robert Scoble posted a couple of posts and pointed out a post by his his boss’ boss, Vic Gundotra, who wrote:
What about the people in the company who DON”T believe this is a human rights issue? What about those people who believe homosexuality is a moral/social issue? Should Ballmer just say these people are wrong? That “Microsoft the corporation” has decided to take a stance on this social issue?
I realize that many people, including myself see this as a human rights issue. But you do have to stop and consider the people with the opposing view.
Should a CEO pick sides on an issue that is so divisive? Does being “inclusive” and “diverse” suddenly stop when it involves views that are different than the ones we hold?
What the upper management at Microsoft has forgotten is that supporting equal rights for gays does not deny equal rights to others. Giving gays the same rights as every other group in this country does not deny these rights to those who are not gay. Giving gays the right to employment does not mean that straights have somehow lost the equal right to employment. The same can be said to the right to buy a home, get insurance, and any other basic human need.
Even those who are anti-gay can continue being anti-gay…up until it comes to trying to force your company into firing a person for no other reason than they are gay. But don’t worry, being gay isn’t a virus–you won’t ‘catch’ it if your cube is next to a gay person’s. However, I’ve heard that tolerance is contagious if you’re exposed to it for great lengths of time.
A basic premise in our country is if we error, we error on the side of granting more rather than less liberty. Microsoft could have sent a message to the community and its employees who supported the bill that it recognizes there are citizens in this country who do not have full rights, and this bill would help grant some of the most basic: a right to a home and a job. Microsoft would then have sent a message to those who did not support this bill that though it understands their disagreement, supporting the bill does not lessen their existing rights, as there is no guaranteed right to bias and prejudice in the United States.
Instead, what Microsoft has done is show that a small man in a small church can push around a major corporation in today’s intolerant climate, and begin what can be a disasterous reversal of rights gained so slowly over decades in corporate America.
Coors understood what was at stake, as did Boeing, and Nike and a host of other companies that came out in support of this bill. What is it that BlueOregon wrote? From now on drink Coors, wear Nikis, and fly Boeing–but don’t buy Microsoft.