Pilot's Log

Kool & The Gang, "Too Hot"

Knoxville hit an ALL-TIME high temperature today at 105° F/41° C. Seven generations of records and this broke every single one.

All I can do is stay out of the sun, drink lots of beverages and somehow keep my Precious and its peripherals from overheating.

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Dry, clear skies, calmed winds...and at the freezing point.

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No, thank goodness! It's been strangely warm and clear and pleasant in these parts so far. Of course, when Winter actually comes down on us I'm sure it will be different.

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Probably the gray suade/knit cardigan sweater I'm wearing now. It's a strictly in-the-house piece, tho'.

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The early side of autumn in Florida, just before the love bug invasion.

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Someplace in the Tropics and/or the Southern Hemisphere...even though it's fairly pleasant here (and mostly snow-free) at the moment, I know it could change in an instant.

Last year It Was Revealed In The Press--And On My LJ that a large number of cargo ships were anchored, idle, in the Singapore Straits. Out of curiosity tonight, I looked for them on Google Earth...still there, strung between Singapore Harbor and Sungai Rengit and likely elsewhere in the area. Didn't bother to count them but there seemed to be a few score of them. Dunno how recent the aerial pictures are, but the fact that they are still sitting there means we're still a long way from recovering the global economy.

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General Admission to the upcoming Jefferson County Fair is $12. Except for the night of Tuesday, August 3rd, when it is only $10.

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My buddy Paul "salvaged" signage from the now-closed Jefferson City Blockbuster Video location today. Now Kermit The Frog from the Children's Department is at a place of honor above his jukebox. Dunno what he's going to do with the other pieces he got.

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Rather Manor now has air conditioning. Dad got a window unit for the living room over the weekend. We aren't using it a lot, tho'.

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I removed someone from my Friends on Facebook because they said something really stupid and politically divisive, and I didn't feel like they were worth me reading their other posts. I expect I'll be doing things like that a lot this year.

The Primary in Tennessee is in a week and the attack ads are flooding the TV. I won't be voting because all the races being decided are for THAT OTHER PARTY. I hate living in a one-party state.

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I never realized how much I missed the Sumo coverage on NHK's News (from Japan, of course!). The PBS World station airs NHK at 5PM weekdays, and this week the Nagoya Basho is getting really interesting.

Sagittarius Horoscope for week of July 8, 2010

In the next few weeks, the odds are higher than usual that you'll inherit an amusement park or a tropical island or a profitable pig farm. There's also a slight chance that you will win a Dutch lottery, find a diamond ring on the sidewalk, or be picked to star in a new reality TV show, "How Would You Use a Gift of Ten Million Dollars?" But what's far more likely than any of those possibilities is that you will be able to capitalize on a legacy whose cash value is hard to estimate. Is there any birthright you've been neglecting to exploit? Any part of your heritage that may be ready to bring you a boost?

Actually, I'd hate to inherit anything because that would mean that somebody I care about has left this world for keeps, and this summer promises to be rough even without that happening.

Sagittarius Horoscope for week of October 1, 2009

The coming week will have something to offend and agitate everyone -- except you. Whines and moans and yelps will ring out across the land, even as you're emanating poise and aplomb. You may be tempted to brazenly exploit everyone's vulnerability and seize control of your corner of the world, but I think that would be shortsighted of you. A better strategy for capitalizing on your advantage would be to dole out large doses of mercy, making sure that the people who will be important to your future don't lose their way.

The problem is that too many people seem to think that the anger and rage they have now is the best tool in the box. Me?--I have rage fatigue. It's like asking a metalworker who spends eight hours of every working day next to the blast furnace whether he cares about the hot air generated elsewhere.

This kind of ties in to that story of the hanged Census worker in Clay County, Kentucky. I did that work here in Tennessee ten years back, and one of my RL friends (on FB too) did the job in Florida, and I never told my parents how hazardous I thought the job was getting in some areas because I needed the cash too bad. (What's even more chilling is another of my RL friends/classmates, also on FB, knew the victim personally.) Now, the general circumstances are pointing to the man running into some sort of criminal activity--but what if it HAD turned out to be politically-motivated? I could imagine that myself, as when I did the job in '98 it was "hang the Clintons!" and "none of your CENSORED business!" Scare a man too much, stoke his fire too high, make him think there's no way out, enemies are all around and he can't trust anybody, and rage can KILL.

I'm personally not in a position to "dole out large doses of mercy", but you can understand my desire to stay out of the fray and try to douse the flames before something explodes. Water is getting expensive, so don't be surprised if all that comes out of the bucket is sand.