Cap'n Bob & the Damsel

NRA on C-SPAN Now!

From Wayne LaPierre, NRA Exec. VP:

Dear Fellow NRA Member,
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On Friday, September 21, from 8:30-5:00, NRA is holding its Celebration of American Values at the Capital Hilton in Washington, D.C. The event is being covered live by C-SPAN. Please be sure to watch this important presentation. Also, please be sure to call C-SPAN immediately and tell the station that you’re enjoying the coverage so that they’ll continue to carry this and other NRA events. Please, also be sure to be on the lookout for news reports of this important event on other major networks. Thank you very much.

I presume that those times are Eastern. I don’t have TV access where I am now, so I will get Damsel to check my theory.

Update: Damsel reported that both C-SPAN channels on DirecTV were showing content other than the NRA.

21 Sep 2007 by Firearms Media

Basking on a Buoy

buoy-seals.jpgWhenever we take the Catalina Express to or from Catalina, we never fail to see several California Sea Lions basking on the harbor navigation buoys. Damsel took this picture as we passed into the harbor returning to the San Pedro Catalina Terminal.

Pinnipeds are protected under the Marine Mammal Protection act, and organizations such as the Marine Mammal Care Center at Fort MacArthur (we are supporting members) provide rescue, rehab and restoration to the habitat for injured critters.

It’s not uncommon for sea lions to rest on buoys; they will also often gather at marinas and wharves. These man-made environments provide them safety from their natural predators: orcas and white sharks.

You can click on the image for a larger view.

20 Sep 2007 by California Critters Environment Photography

The Casino’s Art Deco Mermaid

I know that we’ve been putting up a lot of images from our recent trip to Avalon, but we took over 800 pictures and many of them came out quite good (if I do say so myself). We will probably be posting these over the next few weeks in the afterglow of a wonderful island getaway.

This beautiful tile mural is over the box office in the foyer of the famous Casino in the City of Avalon on Catalina Island. She has been restored form the dark days of the 60s to the 80’s when this gorgeous structure fell into disrepair. Luckily, the whole place is looking good, although some places around the building could use a power wash. Nonetheless, this is one of the several wonderful aquatic murals in the Casino’s foyer. Click on the image below to see a larger version.

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19 Sep 2007 by Arts California Photography Travel

Worth A Thousand Words

green-graph.jpgWe’re adding a new item to our Global Warming Resources page. The National Center for Policy Analysis has compiled a Global Warming Primer in PDF format that illustrates in graphical form some of the concepts of Global Warming that are often misunderstood or not understood at all by many people with opinions about climate change.

At the right is a pie chart illustrating that greenhouse gasses are less than 5 percent of the atmosphere. A subsequent pie chart shows that 95 percent of that small wedge is harmless water vapor!

The primer is an easy read since most of the pages are graphs and pie charts with annotations to clearly explain to the reader what concepts are being presented. The primer is based on a review of available scientific research. The NCPA received no money and no input from any private company or government agency.

The primer is a welcome change from the myriad of complex and often daunting data on the subject. All that engineering and scientific stuff is fine for some of us, but try and explain it to your kids and others without the background and you get blank stares.

Hat tip to Planet Gore – A Global Warming Primer: A Graph is worth 1,000 words.

18 Sep 2007 by Environment Global Warming Science

Island Patrol

When you are on an island, everything you consume has to be barged over from the mainland. In the case of groceries and gasoline, the entire delivery truck is loaded onto the barge and brought to the island and barged back empty. This causes the prices for such commodities to go way up.

While you can’t cut down on groceries and such, you can do something about fuel consumption. In order to cope with 5-dollar-per-gallon-plus gas prices, most Catalina Island residents drive small golf-cart sized vehicles since the town is rather small. You also see motor scooters and we saw a Segway while we were there.

One interesting vehicle we saw was this motorized stand-up three-wheeled solution which the Los Angeles County Sheriff Department uses to patrol the streets of Avalon. Click on the picture below for a large close-up.

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17 Sep 2007 by California Culture Law and Order Photography

Shallow Water

This is a pleasant view of the shallow water by the beach in Avalon. I love the textures of the sand, rocks, light and bubbles. Click on the image for a larger view.

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16 Sep 2007 by Arts Environment Photography

Avalon at Dawn

On our last day on the Island, we got up early and I captured this picturesque sunrise over Avalon Harbor. You can click on the image to see the 800 by 600 pixel image.

avalon-sunrise.jpg

15 Sep 2007 by California Photography Travel

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