6.02.2006

More reasons to be wary of prayer

Woman Hit by Lightning While Praying

"Worried about the safety of her family during a stormy Memorial Day trip to the beach, Clara Jean Brown stood in her kitchen and prayed for their safe return as a strong thunderstorm rumbled through Baldwin County, Alabama.

But while she prayed, lightning suddenly exploded, blowing through the linoleum and leaving a blackened area on the concrete. Brown wound up on the floor, dazed and disoriented by the blast but otherwise uninjured. She said 'Amen' and the room was engulfed in a huge ball of fire. The 65-year-old Brown said she is blessed to be alive."

Blessed to be alive? Talk about a case of Stockholm Syndrome.

5.31.2006

BioSphere swallowed by sprawl

I was fascinated by the BioSphere back in the early 90s. Do you remember it? Financed by oil -illionaire Ed Bass, it was a self contained living space designed to need nothing from the outside. No air, no water, no food. People - I think they were called terranauts - were to live in there for two years, totally self-sustaining.


It's now going to be knocked down to make way for tract homes.

From the NYTimes article: "As it turns out, the real science experiment was going on outside, as development conquered vast swaths of the Sonoran Desert. The Biosphere, miles from nowhere when it was built in the 1980's, is now within the reach of a building boom streaking north from Tucson and south from Phoenix (and which some demographers say will eventually join the two cities, once 100 miles apart)."

The irony of this is just too much. Thousands upon thousands of houses and strip malls being dropped in like monopoly pieces, each sucking water and electricity and food through an asphalt umbilicus connected to the rest of the life-sustaining country. Displacing the very symbol of moving from dependence to sustainability.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/28/realestate/28nation.html

5.28.2006


Just spotted this in Ballard. It's a 'sculpture' with a strategically placed sprinkler so he 'pees' on your lawn. Classy!
click pic

Ahhh - summer in Seattle. May 28th, 2006. The tallest building, stuck in the clouds there on the right, is just under 1,000 feet tall.

Red and I lucked into a one-hour window where it didn't really rain, as we walked down to the beach. She got to chase seagulls and geese, and I got to haul a 30 pound pack a few miles. Now...it's really raining and Red's snoring on the office couch.
click pic

Just born spiders. This could keep some people awake at night.
click pic