Comfort in the ThunderIn the dark of dawn
the double thunder signals
they are safely home.
Okay a bad haiku, but being awakened at 6:21 by the double sonic boom of the returning shuttle provides some small comfort to those of us who live nearby. Or perhaps, for some, just a momentary annoyance. I can only speak for myself.
As much as I love Florida, there are several things I miss about fall--the changing colors, certainly. But having spent much of my life in Virginia and Ohio, what I most miss is apple season. I was astonished and appalled by the narrow and uninteresting selection of apples that the grocery stores here in Florida have. Normally this time of year the apples were rolling into the stores--Stamen, Winesap, and Jonathan being the three favored varieties. So, instead of sending cash to my pay-pal account, if you are a resident of VA or OH, you can amply repay me by shipping me any of these three varieties of apples, in almost any quantity (so long as it is large.)
And for the residents of Columbus--TSO in particular, there is an event in Circleville, which approaches asymptotically close to heaven--yes, the world-renowned Circleville Pumpkin festival in which one can obtain, pumpkin soup, pumpkin bread, pumpkin cakes, pumpkin donuts, cooked pumpkin twelve ways, and, of course pumpkin Ice Cream. There is no way to ship Circleville or the pumpkin festival to me, but go or send an emissary to enjoy it for me. Eat a pumpkin donut or pumpkin ice cream. It's the very least you can do for a blogging pal.
I think I found this article about the marvels of the fluorescent bulb at Semicolon. We've had a few for several years now and love them. I just didn't realize that they really were that energy efficient. However, if you put your hand near one you should be able to tell--there's nothing like the heat given off by the typical resistor bulb. So, check it out. It's simple, it's easy, and it apparently does help.
A scientist's alternative to ID?
I have yet to read Francis Collins's book, but here's an interview that may give some insight. What I like about it is that it keeps squarely in the realm of science those things that are science and recognizes the "break" in science that enters with Human Evolution, without trying to slap a scientific explanation on it. As I said, I haven't evaluated the theory in any detail, but here's the article
