Says You!

Calling all Lowcountry NPR buffs......

Says You! will be taping two shows at the Dock Street Theater on Friday, November 10th at 7:30 pm. Champagne & Chocolates with the cast at 6:30 pm is an option. Being as it is only a couple weeks past my anniversary, I think it qualifies for the celebratory option. The champagne is probably a tool to ensure a lively and rowdy crowd for the taping, non?

I'll see you there!

Papa Bear's Bike

This is Papa Bear......



And this is his bike frame......

After I declined my first OMS offer earlier this year, I began cleaning house. Getting rid of unnecessary stuff like every Halloween costume my kids ever wore. I even began selling portions of our library on Amazon.com. Many things are acquired over ten years of marriage. These are seemingly useless things to which we place emotional attachments. These attachments are not always fully understood by our partners...no matter how well we think we know one another.

A case in point is Papa Bears Bicycle. I have known Papa Bear since 1991. During this time he has always had and carted around this red bicycle frame. Since 1998, this frame and a few wheel parts have been in the back of our closet. Periodicall,y I would be accused of mishandling these things by merely placing other unused items nearby. During my previously mentioned culling of our things, I told Papa Bear that he needed to either rebuild that bicycle of his dreams, or get rid of it. I just could not imagine traipsing about the world with a beloved bicycle frame that was not being used.

Well, I created a bicycle building monster I did. The first thing Papa Bear did was to acquaint himself with the likes of EBay. He began bidding up a storm. The result is what he calls his training bike. My appreciation for bike terminology leaves much to be desired, but I believe this may be a campy dream. Below is a view of the right side....

And now the left side.....

And an angle that Papa Bear prefers.....

And MilesChild thought this photo would pull the entire article together as no one wants to look at just photos of a bicycle after all.

So, you may wonder how encouraging Papa Bear to rebuild this bicycle created a monster. Maybe next weekend I'll show you the other bicycles. He has two racing bicycles still in storage, he bought a collapsible bicycle for Mary, rebuilt two for me (one of which he has taken over and uses it for trips to the grocery store), and he has built one for MilesChild. Our living room has been converted into a bicycle showroom. There are many, many extra parts here, there & yon. He did dispose of the child's bike that was sent to us completely taken apart - down to the last nut & bolt. That package was extremely interesting as you could hear all of the pieces and parts moving around.

This weekend Papa Bear has begun to sell these extra parts on EBay. He now intends to go to a bicycle maniac school in Oregon or Colorado with the intent of eventually opening his own shop.

Views from the Hotel Pavilion Rooftop

May Peace Prevail on Earth!

INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PEACE
21 SEPTEMBER, ANNUALLY
Culture of Peace INITIATIVE

PEACE BEGINS WITH OURSELVES,
LIVING IN HARMONY WITH ONE ANOTHER
AND WITH THE EARTH

WHAT: The International Day of Peace (Peace Day) provides an opportunity for individuals, organizations and nations to create practical acts of Peace on a shared date. Peace Day serves annually to highlight the International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World, 2001 to 2010. Established by a United Nations resolution in 1981, the International Day of Peace was first celebrated September 1982. [Please see article below: “Background of the Annual International Day of Peace”]

WHEN: Annually, 21 September — International Day of Peace (Peace Day)

WHERE: Wherever you are.

WHO: You and all who care about building Cultures of Peace for the children of this and future generations.

WHY: To mark our individual and collective progress toward building Cultures of Peace, and serve as a reminder of our permanent commitment to Peace, above all interests and differences of any kind.


Individuals and Nations, acting in concert, DO make a difference in the quality of our lives, our institutions, our environment and our planetary future. Through co-operation, we manifest the essential Spirit that unites us amidst our diverse ways.


HOW: Through various paths to personal and planetary Peace, such as:

• Join people throughout the world in one Minute of Silence of Peace this Day, and at NOON every day, in our common commitment to Peace.
• 
  Ring a bell, light a candle for Peace.
  
• Plan a local event--use schools, places of worship, libraries, parks, or municipal buildings to host events and to build partnerships within your community. Involve children!
  
• Incorporate silence, prayer, and meditation into your plans.
  
• Promote local media attention for the Day. Publish an editorial on Peace Day in a newspaper or magazine.
  
• Ask your government officials to proclaim each 21 September as the International Day of Peace Holiday.
  
• Or… whatever inspires you as a PeaceBuilder!
  
  

BACKGROUND OF THE ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PEACE (21 SEPTEMBER)

The International Day of Peace, established by a United Nations resolution in 1981 to coincide with the opening of the General Assembly, was first celebrated on the third Tuesday of September 1982. Beginning 2002, the UN General Assembly set 21 September as the now permanent date for the International Day of Peace.

In establishing the International Day of Peace, the United Nations General Assembly decided that it would be appropriate “to devote a specific time to concentrate the efforts of the United Nations and its Member States, as well as of the whole of mankind, to promoting the ideals of peace and to giving positive evidence of their commitment to peace in all viable ways… (The International Day of Peace) should be devoted to commemorating and strengthening the ideals of peace both within and among all nations and peoples.”

The Assembly’s resolution declared that the International Day of Peace “will serve as a reminder to all peoples that our Organization, with all its limitations, is a living instrument in the service of peace and should serve all of us here within the Organization as a constantly pealing bell reminding us that our permanent commitment, above all interests or differences of any kind, is to peace. May this Peace Day indeed be a day of peace.”[Quotes excerpted from the United Nations General Assembly Resolution UN/A/RES/36/67]

[Quote from the UN Resolution UN/A/RES/55/282 which amends the date of the International Day of Peace to 21 September]:
“The Assembly, reaffirming the contribution that the observance and celebration of the International Day of Peace make in strengthening the ideals of peace and alleviating tensions and causes of conflict, (decided that) beginning with the fifty-seventh session, the Day should be observed on 21 September each year, with this date to be brought to the attention of all people for the celebration and observance of peace.”

*Please note that this entire article is taken directly from http://www.internationaldayofpeace.org/

Betty Jean Nottingham Dufford 1925-2006

My Great Aunt BJ recently died at the age of 81. Hospice allowed her to move out of a nursing home and live out the last three months of her life at her home. My father called me today and told me her last wishes. They are:

1. Send no real flowers. Anyone who sends flowers will be haunted. Aunt BJs birthday was October 31st.

2. Celebrate her life. The party is in California this coming Friday afternoon. I'm told that at 5pm EST I must somehow raise a glass of cheer and toast to her.

I'm thinking about getting individual size champagne or sparkling wine and passing them out around the office at 16:55 on Friday for any coworker who would like to join me. Won't you?

A toast then - to Aunt BJ. May we all live to celebrate life, and may we find joy celebrating the lives of our ancesters, of our decendents, and of our extended family of friends.

CHEERS!

Agricola Scribes a SC Senator's Perspective on Iran

Whether you lean to the left, to the right or stand straight and tall in the center......please read Agricola's recap of Lindsey Graham perspective on Iran. Do you agree or disagree and why?

No longer can the citizens of the United States feel comfortable in their own homes as they send their sons off to war. We have been lulled into a false sense of security. Sometimes even the fall of the towers seems far away from our own home. There really is no good that comes from taking sides. There is no one answer that will stop the insanity. Us and them....must we be foes....infidels to one another because ancient words say it must be so? Men of days past wrote those words that rule us today.

How I wish I could show those ancient men what torment their words would cause.

For the record, Papa Bear says to delete this post as it makes no sense. IT MAKES NO SENSE!! The precise emotion I was trying to evoke.

It's Gettin' Kinda Warm 'Round Here

Sultry - is this the future of life on Earth? If you had to deal with heat 24/7, would you prefer your heat to be humid or arid?

Sultry has long been synonymous with Southern summers. There is something je ne sais quoi about the word sultry. It sounds sexy. It makes me think of Paul Newman in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof or The Long, Hot Summer. The definition given at Dictionary.com is for the most part anything but sexy:

sul‧try  /–adjective, -tri‧er, -tri‧est.
1. oppressively hot and close or moist; sweltering: a sultry day.
2. oppressively hot; emitting great heat: the sultry sun.
3. characterized by or associated with sweltering heat: sultry work in the fields.
4. characterized by or arousing passion: sultry eyes.

According to An Inconvenient Truth, "humanity is sitting on a ticking time bomb." The time bomb is Global Warming. The EPA lists what Global Warming means for specific areas of the United States. For the lowcountry and all other coastal zones, studies estimate

"that along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts, a one foot (30 cm) rise in sea level is likely by 2050. In the next century, a two foot rise is most likely, but a four foot rise is possible; and sea level will probably continue to rise for several centuries, even if global temperatures were to stop rising a few decades hence...

Rising sea level inundates wetlands and other low-lying lands, erodes beaches, intensifies flooding, and increases the salinity of rivers, bays, and groundwater tables. Some of these effects may be further compounded by other effects of changing climate. Measures that people take to protect private property from rising sea level may have adverse effects on the environment and on public uses of beaches and waterways....

Nationwide, a two foot rise in sea level could eliminate 17-43 percent of US wetlands, even if no additional bulkheads or dikes are erected, with more than half of the loss taking place in Louisiana alone."

Recently, both of my parents have been reflecting upon this topic. My father just replaced his main car with a Toyota Prius (Way to go, Dad!) and my Mom became more concerned after she saw a TV special called The Seven Deadliest Threats to Humanity. I could not find that program, but believe she watched a 20/20 special entitled Last Days on Earth. The doomsday scenarios explored are:

1. Death of a Star: Gamma Ray Burst and Black Hole
2. Machines - Artificial Intelligence
3. Super Volcano, including one in Yellowstone National Park
4. Asteroid Strike
5. Nuclear War
6. Germs/Disease: Plague and Bioterrorism
7. Global Warming/Climate Change

ABC's website does not give details on this list, but I did find a great article entitled Ways to Destroy Life that covers Climate Change (Greenhouse & Snowball Effect), Asteroid Strike and the Super Volcano.

Even if you doubt the way information on Global Warming has been presented to you, don't you owe it to yourself to get the facts? We all inhabit this planet called Earth, we all are dealing with rising temperatures, and we all need to care for her together. It starts with one simple step: educate thyself.

I'll sign off with the poem Fire & Ice by Robert Frost.

Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.