A Slice of the Good Life

It's been a while since I posted something here. All is well. I just went through a very busy time and had to relocate & shuffle things around. How do you like my new place? OK, I confess, not all of it is mine... Do you recognize this place?

I only have this part of the building. The balcony is rather small, don't you think? Hope it doesn't cost an arm and a leg to heat this place in the winter.

But the views of the Hudson River are spectacular!
This is the entrance to the garden.
A quiet spot, great for contemplation.

The Italian Gardens.
Of course, some parts of the garden need lots of work, so between that and other stuff, I didn't have time to post anything. You understand...



This little mansion and its lush environs is located in New Hyde Park, NY. Some very wealthy guy named F.W. Vanderbilt built it. Rather modest compared to the guilded-age mansions of the robber barons. Join me on Friday, Dec. 12th, for a Gilded Age Christmas!

More Extreme Weather Our Way?

Update: 9/6/08
We're having the first storm of the season as Hanna is soaking & blowing against the Atlantic states. It's the weekend, so lots of people will stay indoors and the inadvertent local flooding should be gone by Monday.
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Gustav may not be as powerful as Katrina (category 5) three years ago, but it just made landing in Louisiana as a hurricane category 2, still with sustained winds of 110 or more mph. Many places have flooded but it's too early to assess the damage. Fortunately, it doesn't appear that there are any casualties, even though it's still early.

Of course, it helps that Gustav isn't following the same path as Katrina. The low lying New Orleans was flooded when Lake Pontchartrain was pushed into the city by the hurricane in 2005.

President Bush flew to Austin Texas to be closer to the action and coordinate the response, we're told. It appears that the emergency response and the preparations for this storm have been much better than those 3 years ago. [here's my take back then]

The LA Guard was missing then (was fighting "them over there"), but today other states have sent personnel to cover and add more support. I hope that when another category 5 storm hits, we won't see the human toll due to the incompetence of those in government entrusted with protecting the public good.

I don't see what Bush or McCain can do other than photo-op. The president is responsible for making sure FEMA and all the other federal agencies are efficient and ready--not a place to distribute political patronage. When disaster strikes the system should not depend on the president to make decisions or "c0-ordinate" the efforts!

Scientists are warning us that the frequency and the severity of hurricanes and other natural phenomena will increase due to climate change. I don't see a problem with that. The Earth goes through cycles. It so happens that for the first time a species--us, humans--have been contributing to the pendulum effect. I'm not an expert, but wouldya think pouring lots of CO2 in the atmosphere since the industrial revolution may have had some effect?

Over 90% of all the species that have appeared on this planet have been extinct. The dinosaurs was a more successful species since it survived for 60 or more millions of years. We're just toddlers in evolutionary terms--just a few hundred thousands years.