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Dear Yuletide author,
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Thank you!
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If you have any questions, please relay them to me via the mods.
Thank you!
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May we all fare better in 2023.
A long expected adventure
At dusk, I looked out the window and drew my breath. It was time. I dressed warmly, grabbed the bag I had prepared, and headed for the door. It was quite cold outside, but there was no wind and very few clouds; a bank of grey to the south, and some faint traces of pale pink above me. The crescent moon illuminated the winter landscape. I pulled my coat closer around me and started down the hill. The forest was silent, my boots creaking on the snow the only sound as I passed the icicle-coated cliffs. Upon reaching the bottom of the hill, I stopped and straightened my back. Then, I lifted the lid of the bin, threw the garbage bag inside, closed the bin and walked away.
(Written by me, Jan 27 2004)
At dusk, I looked out the window and drew my breath. It was time. I dressed warmly, grabbed the bag I had prepared, and headed for the door. It was quite cold outside, but there was no wind and very few clouds; a bank of grey to the south, and some faint traces of pale pink above me. The crescent moon illuminated the winter landscape. I pulled my coat closer around me and started down the hill. The forest was silent, my boots creaking on the snow the only sound as I passed the icicle-coated cliffs. Upon reaching the bottom of the hill, I stopped and straightened my back. Then, I lifted the lid of the bin, threw the garbage bag inside, closed the bin and walked away.
(Written by me, Jan 27 2004)
Hilary Clinton arrived in town yesterday. There was an Air Force One type plane (what callsign would it have for carrying the foreign minister?) sitting at the airport, and two dark helicopters were buzzing around over town all day.
When I left work, I went to my usual bus stop - in a bus transit area that is separated from the airfield by the road that leads to the mall where I work - and saw a lot of police cars and people in yellow vests standing around at the nearby intersections, stopping traffic. We at the bus stop decided she must be heading out of town and talked about that in the oddly trafficless silence. Some ten minutes later, her motorcade arrived, drove up the road that leads to the mall and then turned in a side gate to cross the airstrip and drive directly to their plane. I joked that it was good thinking to drive that way, as the regular security check in at the airport had closed a half hour earlier due to an ongoing strike :D
A bus that would take me most of the way home arrived shortly after that. My regular bus didn't arrive until I'd walked the last stretch home, fifteen minutes late. By that time, her plane had already taken off, heading north (great circles and all that make due north the shortest route to the US). It was odd to see a plane take off and not turn - usually, the only planes that don't turn south are the ones going to Svalbard.
(EDIT: Seems they were going to Stockholm, which is due south of here. They can't even have normal flight plans, I suppose...)
The whole spectacle was entertaining enough to almost make me forget that I'd managed to cut two fingers and a thumb on a small screwdriver just before leaving work :)
(Also? I don't think today was the right day to forget to put my camera in my purse)
When I left work, I went to my usual bus stop - in a bus transit area that is separated from the airfield by the road that leads to the mall where I work - and saw a lot of police cars and people in yellow vests standing around at the nearby intersections, stopping traffic. We at the bus stop decided she must be heading out of town and talked about that in the oddly trafficless silence. Some ten minutes later, her motorcade arrived, drove up the road that leads to the mall and then turned in a side gate to cross the airstrip and drive directly to their plane. I joked that it was good thinking to drive that way, as the regular security check in at the airport had closed a half hour earlier due to an ongoing strike :D
A bus that would take me most of the way home arrived shortly after that. My regular bus didn't arrive until I'd walked the last stretch home, fifteen minutes late. By that time, her plane had already taken off, heading north (great circles and all that make due north the shortest route to the US). It was odd to see a plane take off and not turn - usually, the only planes that don't turn south are the ones going to Svalbard.
(EDIT: Seems they were going to Stockholm, which is due south of here. They can't even have normal flight plans, I suppose...)
The whole spectacle was entertaining enough to almost make me forget that I'd managed to cut two fingers and a thumb on a small screwdriver just before leaving work :)
(Also? I don't think today was the right day to forget to put my camera in my purse)
On this day nine years ago, around 11 pm at the Spokane airport, I met my future husband for the first time in person.
(Our seventh wedding anniversary was last week.)
(Our seventh wedding anniversary was last week.)
It has snowed 50 cm over the past three days, bringing our total up to this:
Last night (and sunday night) would have been a nice time to own a proper camera. Practically the entire sky was glowing with milky green aurora, forming large ripples and twists that spanned the horizon from northeast to southwest. Some of it was almost bright enough to pick up with my paltry little point-and-click camera :)
(Better equipped people than myself have posted pictures at http://www.spaceweather.com)
Also, the sun returned to us last weekend :)
(Better equipped people than myself have posted pictures at http://www.spaceweather.com)
Also, the sun returned to us last weekend :)
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May the Accidental Firework Butterfly guard us all from crackpotalypse theories of 2012; if they cannot be everted completely, let them at least give us a good laugh or two in their passing.
Here's to everyone having a peaceful and happy holiday :)
Originally posted by ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
gabrielleabelle at Mississippi Personhood Amendment:
gabrielleabelle at Mississippi Personhood Amendment:Okay, so I don't usually do this, but this is an issue near and dear to me and this is getting very little no attention in the mainstream media.
Mississippi is voting on November 8th on whether to pass Amendment 26, the "Personhood Amendment". This amendment would grant fertilized eggs and fetuses personhood status.
Putting aside the contentious issue of abortion, this would effectively outlaw birth control and criminalize women who have miscarriages. This is not a good thing.
Jackson Women's Health Organization is the only place women can get abortions in the entire state, and they are trying to launch a grassroots movement against this amendment. This doesn't just apply to Mississippi, though, as Personhood USA, the group that introduced this amendment, is trying to introduce identical amendments in all 50 states.
What's more, in Mississippi, this amendment is expected to pass. It even has Mississippi Democrats, including the Attorney General, Jim Hood, backing it.
The reason I'm posting this here is because I made a meager donation to the Jackson Women's Health Organization this morning, and I received a personal email back hours later - on a Sunday - thanking me and noting that I'm one of the first "outside" people to contribute.
So if you sometimes pass on political action because you figure that enough other people will do something to make a difference, make an exception on this one. My RSS reader is near silent on this amendment. I only found out about it through a feminist blog. The mainstream media is not reporting on it.
If there is ever a time to donate or send a letter in protest, this would be it.
What to do?
- Read up on it. Wake Up, Mississippi is the home of the grassroots effort to fight this amendment. Daily Kos also has a thorough story on it.
- If you can afford it, you can donate at the site's link.
- You can contact the Democratic National Committee to see why more of our representatives aren't speaking out against this.
- Like this Facebook page to help spread awareness.
Mississippi is voting on November 8th on whether to pass Amendment 26, the "Personhood Amendment". This amendment would grant fertilized eggs and fetuses personhood status.
Putting aside the contentious issue of abortion, this would effectively outlaw birth control and criminalize women who have miscarriages. This is not a good thing.
Jackson Women's Health Organization is the only place women can get abortions in the entire state, and they are trying to launch a grassroots movement against this amendment. This doesn't just apply to Mississippi, though, as Personhood USA, the group that introduced this amendment, is trying to introduce identical amendments in all 50 states.
What's more, in Mississippi, this amendment is expected to pass. It even has Mississippi Democrats, including the Attorney General, Jim Hood, backing it.
The reason I'm posting this here is because I made a meager donation to the Jackson Women's Health Organization this morning, and I received a personal email back hours later - on a Sunday - thanking me and noting that I'm one of the first "outside" people to contribute.
So if you sometimes pass on political action because you figure that enough other people will do something to make a difference, make an exception on this one. My RSS reader is near silent on this amendment. I only found out about it through a feminist blog. The mainstream media is not reporting on it.
If there is ever a time to donate or send a letter in protest, this would be it.
What to do?
- Read up on it. Wake Up, Mississippi is the home of the grassroots effort to fight this amendment. Daily Kos also has a thorough story on it.
- If you can afford it, you can donate at the site's link.
- You can contact the Democratic National Committee to see why more of our representatives aren't speaking out against this.
- Like this Facebook page to help spread awareness.
Thanks to a coronal mass ejection, there was a lot of aurora this week. Unfortunately, it coincided with cloudy and rainy nights.
However, it seems the clouds did break up a little on tuesday night, and this guy was ready for it.
(One of his pictures from the storm is currently NASA's Astronomy picture of the day)
However, it seems the clouds did break up a little on tuesday night, and this guy was ready for it.
(One of his pictures from the storm is currently NASA's Astronomy picture of the day)
For six years, I have lived in the town with the world's northernmost botanical garden, which has collections of plants from arctic and alpine climates around the world, as well as a rhododendron garden and a collection of plants that have been used in people's gardens in Northern Norway.
Yesterday, I visited it for the first time.
( Flowers! And a magpie, surveying its domain. )
(More photos at Flickr, 14 altogether)
One of the main features at this time of year was a collection of gentians in full bloom, but it seems I didn't get any pictures of them that I was satisfied with.
To my amusement, they did have a Persian hogweed (or tromsø palm, as it is known here) in the gardens, near the Russian section. Its flower crowns were cut off, certainly as a precaution: if the seeds were allowed to develop and spread, there'd soon be nothing else in the garden. They were imported over a hundred years ago by people who wanted them in their gardens, and are now the best known and most persistent local noxious weed.
There was construction work going on in one corner, where it seems they're planning on adding a collection of plants from South America, next to the African collection.
Having seen how the place looks now, at the end of the growing season, I am already looking forward to seeing it in spring and summer next year :)
Yesterday, I visited it for the first time.
( Flowers! And a magpie, surveying its domain. )
(More photos at Flickr, 14 altogether)
One of the main features at this time of year was a collection of gentians in full bloom, but it seems I didn't get any pictures of them that I was satisfied with.
To my amusement, they did have a Persian hogweed (or tromsø palm, as it is known here) in the gardens, near the Russian section. Its flower crowns were cut off, certainly as a precaution: if the seeds were allowed to develop and spread, there'd soon be nothing else in the garden. They were imported over a hundred years ago by people who wanted them in their gardens, and are now the best known and most persistent local noxious weed.
There was construction work going on in one corner, where it seems they're planning on adding a collection of plants from South America, next to the African collection.
Having seen how the place looks now, at the end of the growing season, I am already looking forward to seeing it in spring and summer next year :)
We went to town yesterday to check out a touring European Farmer's Market, and found people in droves, not just at the market but everywhere.
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So, structures have been found in some 4,3 billion year old rocks in Australia which may or may not have been sulphur-eating microbes. This would make them the earliest known cellular lifeforms, and their metabolism is of a kind that could arise independently of oxygen, such as in a Mars-like environment.
How this is reported in a Norwegian newspaper? With a headline saying the world's oldest fossil shows there might have been life on Mars after all, and the claim that this sulphur-eating microbe is proof that life could arise without the oxygen that is supplied by plants, which apparently isn't something that has been a well established fact for years. (Oh, and just having a sulphur-eating microbe at all is also new and astounding knowledge, it seems.)
As far as I am concerned, this is further proof that you could send certain 'science' journalists to Mars and still not find intelligent life there.
How this is reported in a Norwegian newspaper? With a headline saying the world's oldest fossil shows there might have been life on Mars after all, and the claim that this sulphur-eating microbe is proof that life could arise without the oxygen that is supplied by plants, which apparently isn't something that has been a well established fact for years. (Oh, and just having a sulphur-eating microbe at all is also new and astounding knowledge, it seems.)
As far as I am concerned, this is further proof that you could send certain 'science' journalists to Mars and still not find intelligent life there.
Yesterday evening, 11.15 pm.
ETA: We saw a plane land while we watched this rainbow, and I wondered if the people on the plane could see it.
As it turns out, that plane was bringing the local survivors home.