Living In the World, Not on It

I thought it would be fun and interesting to see what the Old Farmer's Almanac of 1911 had to say for the month of July. I regret that I haven't a copy of the 1811 Old Farmer's Almanac - the earliest I have is 1814. But this is still a work in progress... (I really, really, REALLY want to find them from the 1700s but not only have I not seen any - not even a replica - I suspect that for the worst-condition copy it will still be prohibitively expensive. That is just how this works!) OK, so here it is: Farmer's Calendar "Remember to continue the succession plantings in the garden. Carry out your plans to sow a cover crop as soon as possible after any field is cleared. Cover crops conserve or accumulate nitrogen, keep down weeds, prevent erosion and the humus supplied will help the lighter soils to retain moisture. Go about through your fields and commune with your crops. What makes the corn in this part of the field yellow? Why has it been found so difficult to keep ...

The upcoming hurricane season could be a top 10 active year, a stark contrast from the relatively calm 2009 season. AccuWeather.com Chief Hurricane Meteorologist Joe Bastardi predicts a total of 16-18 storms this season. To put that in perspective, only eight years in the 160 years of records have had 16 or more storms in a season. The season should start early with one or two threats by early July, and stay late with additional threats extending well into October. His forecast team expects at least six storms to impact the United States coastline--slightly more than one out of every three. In a normal year, one out of every five named storms (20 percent) in the Atlantic basin impacts the United States. In the 2005 season, 36 percent of the storms affected the United States, while 50 percent impacted the United States in 1998 and 2008. "From the standpoint of number of storm threats from the tropics to the United States coastline, we will at least rival 2008, and in ...

Americans are abysmally ignorant when it comes to geography. And I'm not talking about real geography, which has a whole lot more to do with the world than just identifying countries, capitols, large-scale geological features and their placements on maps. I'd be happy if people knew what the capitol of France is! So I'm rereading The Complete Idiot's Guide to Geography . Just to refresh my memory. And in the beginning of the book, there is a basic quiz, to get some idea of your knowledge.There is a map with countries marked by Roman numerals and then the following questions: 1. This country used to comprise the bulk of theSoviet Union: find Russia a. ix 2. This country has the second largest population on Earth: find India a.xv 3. This country was the stomping ground for Evita Perón, the subject of a recent hit movie: find Argentina a. v 4. When a United Stgates teenager was caned for vandalising a car, this country was in hte news: find Singapore a. xviii 5. This count...

Early dawn. Late sunset. Long day. Short night. For us in the northern hemisphere, the June solstice marks the longest day of the year. It’s your signal to celebrate the first day of summer in this hemisphere. South of the equator, winter begins. When is the solstice where I live? The solstice happens at the same instant for all of us, everywhere on Earth. But our clocks say different times. This solstice takes place on Sunday, June 21, 2009 at 5:46 Universal Time . To find the time of the solstice in your location, you have to translate to your time zone. Here’s an example of how to do that. In the central United States, for those of us using Central Daylight Time, we subtract 5 hours from Universal Time. That how we get 0:46 (12:46 a.m.) Central Daylight Time as the time of the 2009 June solstice. Want to know the time in your location? Check out EarthSky’s article How do I translate Universal Time into my time? . And just remember: you’re translating from 5:46 Universal Time, Sunday...

Hi everybody! Some of you were wondering what happened to me last year when the trail reports stopped suddenly. Of course, everything was ultimately fine, but after hiking another 100 miles or so and coming to within 180 miles of my finish point, I started to have a physical problem and felt it was the better part of wisdom to exit the trail for the season. Good timing, because the next week it dumped the first load of snow for the season in Northern California! So here I am, back on the trail this spring, hoping to make it from the Mexican border to Kennedy Meadows (my starting point last year). That's 709 miles. Up in Northern California, I still have the last 180 miles left to hike, then I'll have finished the whole Pacific Crest Trail. I'm still deciding how I'm going to celebrate. Oh, and there WILL be celebrating. Much celebrating. Miles hiked so far: 120 Days hiked: 10 On May 11, my sister-in-law Kim and I made our way to Campo, CA. San Diego trail angels drove u...

Environmental changes could wipe out some of the world's most well-known travel destinations By Megan Angelo As if an eroding worldwide economy weren’t enough to depress travel this year, some hot spots are facing even scarier scenarios: sinking, melting, or literally vanishing from the face of the earth. Thanks to global warming and tourist wear and tear, locales from the Galápagos Islands to Croatia’s Dalmatian coast are breaking down. Maldive Islands Country: Republic of Maldives At stake: $490 million On the Ground: This chain of islands in the Indian Ocean is about three feet above sea level, and scientists fear it could be submerged by 2050. A $63 million buffer built in the 1990s hasn’t solved the problem, so the government is in talks to relocate all 386,000 of its residents to either Sri Lanka, Australia, or India. That would end the Maldives’ tourism industry—more than 600,000 people visit annually—which accounts for 30 percent of the country’s gross domestic product. By ...

Last year, 72 volcanoes erupted around the world -- that's a lot of fire, and slightly above average. So far 2009 looks like it's off to a fast start, too, with Mount Redoubt letting loose in Alaska, Japan's Mount Asama raining ash on Tokyo and an undersea volcano in Tonga breaching the surface and growing an island. But none of these is likely to break into our list of Top 10 Volcanoes in Geologic History. Most of these come with signs that read "Danger: Keep Back at Least One Continent." But if this list of past catastrophes teaches us anything, it's that the biggest, baddest volcanoes can erupt anywhere and at any time. And they will again -- it's just a matter of when. 10. Ontong-Java Plateau, South Pacific This is the biggest volcano you've never heard of. When it erupted 125 million years ago, it covered a region of the south Pacific Ocean the size of Alaska with basalt, in some places as much as 30 kilometers thick. It was so big, the eruption ...

Week Number 155 1) What is the cause that you believe is the most worthy of all? World peace? Oh, wait, wrong thing... I don't know. Many of them are very worthy, and who am I to say that one is more so over another? 2) How would you change the way you were disciplined as a child? I wouldn't. My parents never struck me and I didn't grow up to knock over a bank or pick up a drug habit. I also was never told, "If you do this, you will have to leave" or anything like that. My parents also told me that when I was ready to have sex to bring the man home, so that things could not get out of hand, I could just yell for them. I tell you now I had the best parents I could ask for. 3) What is your greatest virtue? Vice? I am not sure that I have any... certainly not patience... Um, honesty. I may keep to myself what I need to but I never sugarcoat or lie to the employees, the patients, my family and/or friends. I think being up front is a good quality. Vice... whew. How muc...

Hi friends and family! I've hiked from Independence to Vermillion Valley Resort to Reds Meadows (near the Devil's Postpile National monument) to Tuolomne Meadows in Yosemite National Park to Bridgeton, CA. Miles hiked: 228 Days hiked: 21 Days rested: 2 The High Sierras were very remote from civilization, and I've been jonesing for an internet connection that wouldn't cost me $45/hour (like it did at one of the places where I took a rest day). I've been getting stronger as I keep chasing these thruhikers who've hiked all the way fom Mexico. I hiked my first 25 mile day and my first 30 mile day this week. I'm almost through the Sierras, and the hardest part of the trail is (supposedly) over. It should be smoother, lower altitude hiking from now on. The mosquitoes have been relentless, but I've been able to come to a truce with them by using 100% DEET. I've become quite zen about the bugs, compared to how I felt when I started. Now they can buzz around ...

Well, I don't know my states worth a damn! I couldn't post the quiz - it had a lot of images - but you can go to http://www.blogthings.com/howwelldoyouknowyourstatesquiz/ to take it. However, my capitols went much better! What's the capitol of Maine? Portland Augusta Bangor Kittery What's the capitol of Florida? Tallahassee Miami Jacksonville Tampa What's the capitol of Utah? Salt Lake City Provo Ogden Orem What's the capitol of Vermont? Burlington Montpelier Brattleboro Bennington What's the capitol of Ohio? Cincinnati Dayton Cleveland Columbus What's the capitol of Connecticut? Bridgeport Hartford Greenwich Stamford What's the capitol of Texas? Austin Houston Dallas San Antonio What's the capitol of California? Sacramento San Francisco Santa Barbara Los Angeles What's the capitol of Virginia? Roanoke Richmond Virginia Beach Alexandria What's the capitol of Washington? Tacoma Seattle Spokane Olympia What's the capitol of Missouri? S...

On M*A*S*H, Hawkeye was checking on a patient when three South Korean soldiers came in to announce their presence to watch over their POWs. The leader asked Hawkeye where his commanding officer was and Hawkeye answered, "Probably in the mess tent. You can't miss it. It's big, green... smells like New Jersey." What the HELL!? I live in this state. I have always lived in this state. I happen to love living here, and not just because it is my home or because I have my family here. How did we end up as a piece of New York or the home of all waste? Do you really thing dumping never happens in other states? Or that Staten Island, home to an inordinate amount of dumping, isn't filled with lovely coastal and woodsy areas not tainted by the smell of decomposing waste? How does anyone say that? Everyone oohs and ahhs about California, New York, Florida (for reasons passing understanding - only a small portion of Florida is ooh-ahh stuff. The rest makes New Jersey look great...

(I think it's Season Four... I watched some of last season, but not the others.) Well, it is embarrassing to admit that I watch this with Luis but there it is - my dirty little secret is out. It's a completely frightening show. The guys are not in the least scary. Most of them, at least 90%, are very sweet, guileless guys who just are a little out of touch with what is happening in the world and fashion and what's in and popular. They look a little geeky, ranging from nothing a nice haircut can't cure to wow, you'll always look geeky. But they are all intelligent and most of them have a good sense of humour. They're socially awkward, but so what? Then there are the beauties. A collection of women who are if not truly beautiful, at least pretty. Unfortunately most of them are blondes that without peroxide and other chemicals would not know one truly blonde colour moment. They are cutsey, bouncy creatures mostly with large breasts, and good figures. I am not usual...