Ishmael

Seriously, photographers: how would you deal with conditions like this? This is the best shot of Ramona Falls that I was able to get on the spur of the moment. You can see Phil in the lower left if you look close. I wonder if this little digital camera of ours can even do it; maybe it's a matter best handled by using a different film? All I can control is F-stop and shutter speed (I think, anyway... I hate reading instructions).

On the SCA front: This metro area is really active. Last weekend I went to an event in Kalama, about 30 miles north of here, Shire of Riversbend. They host four annual kingdom-level events, have for years, and are working on a fifth. And that's not including their regular shire functions, which also draw people from Portland. Yesterday at an A&S-oriented get-together I heard about two annual Portland metro-area wars which draw attendance in the thousands. I've never lived in such a group; I don't even know what to do with myself now. And then there's the Seattle area, and the Eugene area, which are both apparently as active as the Portland area, and maybe more so. Yowza!

On the home front, my garden is lame. Lame as in 'injured,' somehow- I planted and planted and planted some more, and the only thing that's come up is some legumes. All the peas I planted have sprouted, but I also planted peppers, broccoli, lettuce, and some beans, and of all of that, I only have two bean plants to show for it. Two bean plants from over 20 bean-seeds planted. Something must be wrong with my soil, 'coz it's not like we've been short on rain: the garden plots aren't even growing weeds. The apples look more promising this year, though- last year every single apple on the Red Delicious tree was withered and brown on the tree. If that happens again, I guess I'll have to call a doctor.

More UFO action over the UK. Interesting to note that the UK also seems to be the focus (though not exclusively by any means) of crop circle activity. I'm not about to say they're connected in any way but circumstantially, but it's still interesting to consider. And don't let anyone tell you that all crop circles are hoaxes. Some are, to be sure, but many still defy explanation. This recent one in particular simply blows my mind. I repeat: blows. my. mind.

Spain extends civil rights to our cousins. Making amends for the Inquisition, perhaps, or maybe just finally looking forward instead of back.

Help me get rid of Turncoat Joe!

On this day in 1284, the Pied Piper led the children of Hamelin away. Legends differ as to exactly where he led them, and what happened next.
In 1819, W.K. Clarkson patented an improvement on the velocipede, which led to what we now call the bicycle.
In 1959, Father William Gill and 38 others witnessed a disc-shaped object with four legs hovering over the village of Boianai, Papua New Guinea. Four human-like figures were standing on it, and they returned the waves of the witnesses. The object remained intermittently visible for some hours, and returned the following two evenings. It was one of the best witnessed close encounter cases in the annals of ufology. At the time, Gill had assumed the objects to be new American aircraft. There had been a UFO flap on the island that year: 61 UFO sightings, mostly in June and July.
In 1970, Paul Thomas Anderson was born. Director of such excellent films as Boogie Nights, Magnolia, and Punch Drunk Love (which, frankly, takes my breath away).