respublica

Wind map

A very cool map of current winds in the US created as a personal project by this website. If you go back later in the day and refresh your screen it will update.

Thanks Kathy S for the link.

It's Reformation Day

Also Halloween. We know what Halloween is, do you understand Reformation?

One week from today

The election will be over. We hope. All that will be left is the shouting and incessant analyzing. 

Have no idea what the results will be but it sure will be nice to not have to listen to all this stuff. Plus no more hourly polls. "I'll see your poll and raise you another of mine."

Ah the blue check mark

Last night while reading through my Twitter timeline I saw a discussion between Jonah Goldberg (@JonahRNO) and some others about him finally getting the valued blue check mark by his name. I had no idea what this was and did some checking on other people I follow and saw that some had the blue check mark and others did not. So what does it mean?

Turns out it means that Twitter has a policy of checking famous people to make sure their Twitter account is real. Often times celebrities, sports stars, politicians and media types get their names being used by someone else on Twitter. This of course can lead to all sorts of misinformation.

The blue check mark is a sign of verification that this person is the real deal.

Local highways filled with power trucks

Ever since this past weekend, if you've driven on St. Louis and Illinois interstates you've probably seen lots and lots of power trucks headed east to help restore electricity to the east coast after Hurricane Sandy hit. Driving over to Collinsville this morning I saw many more trucks from various midwest and southwest states loaded down with equipment and on their way to New York City and other eastern seaboard areas.

Somehow seeing this makes me feel patriotic and proud of our people, always willing to go where they're needed. I remember the horrible weather year of 2006 when St Louis was hit with storms in the heat of summer and power went out for days and days. Then again the last day of November an ice storm and deep freeze hit us and area power went down again. Always we had our own power people working day and night but also many workers from other states coming to help. 

Incredible.

Subway pumps

The New York subway system uses 700 plus pumps to pump over 13 million gallons of water out of the system on a normal sunny day. Because the subway lines are below ground and often below the water table, water is a constant issue. But today with Hurricane Sandy swamping the subway system with sea water, the result will be a test of pumps which in many cases were put in in 1914. 

3 and 1/2 years

Since the senate passed a budget. April 29, 2009

Fall meals

It's cold, it's time to put away the summer style food and dig around the internet and cookbooks for dinners that are more suitable to the season. But what? Like most everyone we have a standard rotation of meals and I'm bored. Looked at a few sites to see what others are cooking up and found one thing in common:

Chickpeas. Yes, chickpeas. Chickpeas in everything, as a main dish or a side dish. Hot chick peas, cold chickpeas, mashed or whole. What the what? Not sure this would go over very well around here. Hey Dale, we're having chickpeas for dinner! But, that may be the surest way to get to go out for supper.

It was a dark and stormy time

Once upon a time...the end of July...Katie and Charlie closed on their new house at 5 in the afternoon. Two hours later a huge storm hit their area and the new house was covered with downed tree limbs and other debris. It took weeks to get that cleaned up.

Now another storm is heading their way and this time the new baby is due.

Seriously, they need to plan their timing better. :)

National Anthem Etiquette

Rev Paul McCain, commenting on the post "Concordia Seminary basketball team sings the National Anthem", said "Whose job is it to tell the guys to put their hands over their hearts??"

So I did some checking on the etiquette involved with the National Anthem and here is what I found:

According to the US Code Title 36

1. when the flag is displayed —
   1. individuals in uniform should give the military salute at the first note of the anthem and maintain that position until the last note;
   2. members of the Armed Forces and veterans who are present but not in uniform may render the military salute in the manner provided for individuals in uniform; and
   3. all other persons present should face the flag and stand at attention with their right hand over the heart, and men not in uniform, if applicable, should remove their headdress with their right hand and hold it at the left shoulder, the hand being over the heart; and
2. when the flag is not displayed, all present should face toward the music and act in the same manner they would if the flag were displayed.

But what does this mean for those who are actually singing or playing the anthem? I can't find a definitive answer.