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The Year In Review Dec 30 PDF edition (3.55 MB)Where the Devil is
Been searching for the Devil? Look no further than the Vatican. An article in the London Telegraph reports that the Vatican’s chief exorcist says the Devil resides in the Vatican. And if you’re wondering whether or not your mate or child is possessed, consider this:
People possessed by evil sometimes had to be physically restrained by half a dozen people while they were exorcised. They would scream, utter blasphemies and spit out sharp objects, he said.
“From their mouths, anything can come out – pieces of iron as long as a finger, but also rose petals,” said Father Amorth, who claims to have performed 70,000 exorcisms. “When the possessed dribble and slobber, and need cleaning up, I do that too. Seeing people vomit doesn’t bother me. The exorcist has one principal duty – to free human beings from the fear of the Devil.”
MORE HOT TIMES: Moving on from the Devil, Canada experienced some warmth of its own. The southern U.S. had its coldest winter in decades; Canada had its warmest:
Environment Canada scientists report that winter 2009/10 was 4 C above normal, making it the warmest since nationwide records were first kept in 1948. It was also the driest winter on the 63-year record, with precipitation 22 per cent below normal nationally, and down 60 per cent in parts of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario.
“It’s beyond shocking,” David Phillips, a senior climatologist with Environment Canada, said Tuesday. Records have been shattered from “coast to coast to coast.”
What to expect from the winter that wasn’t? Water shortages, insect infestations and wildfires.
Posted in Enviro.
– March 18, 2010
How is your bank doing?
The Bank Tracker feature from the American University School of Communications gives some rather discomforting information about the state of bank loans. Discomforting to someone who knows nothing about the subject. United Bank & Trust, for example, had a troubled asset ratio of 49 at the end of 2009, with the national average at 14. $3 million in loans 90 days or more past due; $18.8 million listed as non-accruing (beyond the 90 days and collection of the principal is considered uncertain). That’s out of assets of $512 million. Others are much worse off. Here’s a link to the worst 450 bank positions, with a few in Michigan and Ohio. They make a score of 49 look very good as they range from 1150 to 90.
A couple notes from the site’s Q&A:
Question: If my bank has a high troubled asset ratio, what should I do?
Answer: The short answer is “nothing.” The FDIC covers all deposits up to $250,000 and no investor has lost any insured deposits since the FDIC went into business in 1935. The FDIC is backed by the full faith and credit of the United States government.
Question: Are you saying that a bank with a high “troubled asset ratio” is going to fail?
Answer: No. Each bank must be evaluated separately. In some cases, the owners of banks are able to inject additional capital in order to strengthen the bank. In other cases, individuals and companies are able to bring their loans current and repay them. Additionally, it is possible that a bank facing difficulties will be able to find a strong merger partner. The FDIC says that historically most “troubled banks” eventually recover.
Posted in Econo.
– March 18, 2010
The Bookies
Front row: Karla Kruse, Karen Van Arsdalen, Trudy Nash, Deb Monahan, Annette Shelle and Sally Hintz. Second row: Linda Sallows, Pat Barnes, Kathy Raymond and Jane Rupp. Back row: Jim Sallows (manager), JoAnn Whetstone, Marie McVay, Jamie VanArsdalen, Wanda Kruse (scorekeeper) and Bob Blanchard (coach).
When women’s softball was strong in this area, the Bookies was one of the best-known teams from Morenci. Here’s a photo from 1977. The names in the second row don’t match up. Maybe someone will have a correction to offer.
The Bookies? Weren’t they sponsored by Morenci Bookkeeping?
Posted in The Yellowed Pages.
– March 18, 2010
You need a subscription
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Breanne Lonis (left) and Alexis Harvey were fascinated with an alphabet book that uses human figures to depict the letters. The book was included in a Stair Public Library display at the Morenci Elementary School Reading Night event Monday.
No time for video last night. The Fayette council meeting went into overtime and I still had to finish up addressing papers.
In this week’s Observer:
• DH Holdings bought the former Fayette school property so it would have easy access to the property in case addition cleanup of contamination is in the future.
• The city won’t apply for a recreation grant for the next funding cycle for the proposed walking trail along Bean Creek.
• Morenci and Hudson are moving forward on sharing a superintendent.
• Cletus Smith, once a police officer in Morenci, is running for a county commission seat.
• Morenci’s Movie Gallery is closing soon, like so many hundreds of other locations.
And so forth. I gotta go. Get a subscription. You can order it right here on the web site.
Posted in It's life.
– March 17, 2010
Korea leads the way
The NYT’s Gadgetwise blog says the leading phone maker is probably not the one you think it might be:
It’s not Apple, BlackBerry, Palm or Nokia. According to the market research firm Strategy Analytics, Samsung was the the leader in the United States with 26 percent of the total cellphone market in 2009.
Feature phones are the big sellers. They’re not smartphones, but they connect to the internet. And I’m still using a dial phone in the back of the Observer office.
PASSWORD: Check out this graphic on password security. People are still using passwords that are too simple.
GOOGLING: This link is only for those who are really interested in the world of Google. It’s called “Six Delusions of Google’s Arrogant Leaders.” It’s interesting reading. If you’re interested in Google’s standing in the world.
Posted in Econo.
– March 17, 2010
Vanderpool kids took first
Londa and Lonnie Vanderpool won first prize for most original in the 1967 Morenci Jaycee Fair Kiddie Parade. They’re depicting the Old Woman in the Shoe, in case you were wondering. Barney looks like maybe he was forced into doing this, but I can’t imagine him complaining about getting to drive the tractor.
Rosemary Garrow won for best decorated bike, Debbie Green had the funniest entry and Karen Deatrick won for prettiest.
Posted in The Yellowed Pages.
– March 14, 2010
Rising above
photo by Michael Rubenstein
The Wall Street Journal has report on the construction of elevated skywalks for pedestrians to get off the busy streets. Story, photo and video here:
Most streets here have no footpaths. The sidewalks that do exist are bursting from a gridlock of walkers, street vendors and squatters. The scrum has become even pushier recently as hundreds of thousands migrate to this city of nearly 18 million people for jobs created by its economic expansion. Success has also led to an unprecedented number of cars and motorcycles on the road.
To lift the pedestrians that power this city above the fray, Mumbai is building more than 50 elevated walkways. The skywalks will sprout from train stations across the city and snake over the traffic for up to two miles to create a pedestrian express lane.
Posted in It's life.
– March 14, 2010
Colors of the year
This is the sort of thing that makes me glad to be alive in the present era. Flicker Flow uses color and time to create images. There’s a large series of experiments at the link above in addition to Flicker Flow.
The two of us see the world as a stream of color, and in 2009 we finally had a chance to draw the river in our heads. We began with a collection of photographs of the Boston Common taken from Flickr. Using an algorithm developed for the WIRED Anniversary visualization, our software calculated the relative proportions of different colors seen in photos taken in each month of the year, and plotted them on a wheel. The image below is an early sketch from the piece. Summer is at the top, with time proceeding clockwise.
Posted in It's life.
– March 14, 2010
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