Water Under The Bridge

Arsenic and Old Lakes

Don't go near the water.

I got a notice today from Redding Municipal Utilities telling me, (and I guess the other people who get mail), that in compliance with the federal USEPA maximum contaminant level for Arsenic of 2006, the use of highly contaminated wells is being diminished, and the water supply is being diluted by less contaminated wells and surface water to bring our water into compliance with the 2006 levels.

I feel so much better about spending money for bottled water. Some people who have been drinking this water for years, "may experience skin damage or circulatory system problems, and may have an increased risk to getting cancer". I guess I should be happy I don't live in the south and east redding pressure zones where the arsenic levels exceed the standard during summer peak demand.

This is not natural. This is the product of the mining on Iron Mountain. It has been polluting the Sacramento river for over 100 years. They are assembling a "Super Dredge" to scour the hundreds of tons of toxic goop from the bottom of Keswick lake and Crystal springs toxic holding pond. This is some of the most toxic stuff on planet Earth that seeps into the Sacramento river and the Redding water table. Arsenic is just one of the poisonous substances in this sludge. The plan is to move the dredged toxic mess up the side of the mountain, into specially designed holding ponds where it will stay until they can figure out what to do with it. This, "plan", is costing more than 20 million dollars of Superfund toxic clean up money.

This will become interesting once the Super Dredge becomes contaminated and inoperable, then it will slowly dissolve into the toxic lake to become part of the problem.

What Happened To Nature?

Screaming kids would be eaten by wild animals thereby culling that undesirable trait from the gene pool.

People doing something stupid would not live to replicate.

Ahh, the good old days when we were likely to die of "natural" causes by the time we were 35.

I was reading an article about how most deaths in our country these days, are self inflicted. That would include such things as smoking, drugs, drinking, risky sex, and even simple things like not wearing a seatbelt. The author pointed out that to buckle up can cost you 3 seconds. To choose not to use a seat belt can cost you your life.

Even though we know better, we choose to shorten our lives by eating large quantities of unhealthy food, knowing it will lead to diabetes, heart disease, and a host of other life shortening issues. Diet soda is not food! If you are drinking it, just stop it, it's killing you! Those carbon dioxide bubbles are stressing your digestive system by killing the natural bacterial process. The chemical flavors and sweeteners are not recognized as food and are causing malfunctions in the digestion of real food.

To eat "fake" food is suicide. It causes your body to think it is starving and turns your hunger switch on full time. You can't help but eat crap food until your body is a bloated, misshapen, blob of health issues, and still you need to eat more because you are eating low calorie, non-fat, non-nutritious, FAKE FOOD!

The lions would have eliminated the slow, fat people, in no time.

In Other News;
There was an article in our local paper about a woman who was sentenced for welfare fraud. HERE.

The very first comment was a rant about social services and how bad they are. I couldn't resist...

HappyPhil writes:

What? This person is caught and you are complaining? You really need to lay off the Glenn Beck.

The guy responded that he didn't watch Glenn Beck, but in his words; "I listen to Laura Inghram".

First of all, he missed the wry humor of my "Lay off the Beck(s)", joke, and failed to see the comedy in his posting about a problem that did not exist in the article. But the funniest part was him invoking Laura Ingraham as a better source than Glenn Beck. VIDEO of Laura at work.

(BTW the HappyPhil link above, shows all my comments to the Redding Record Searchlight.)

Eggplant Parmesan

I got a pre-made, refrigerated, packaged dinner at Trader Joe's. I like it. This is the second time I have brought it home for dinner.

This is 1/2 of the package. It took 4 minutes in the microwave. I will eat the other half tomorrow, or the next day.

I am not sure what all is in this dish, but I feel healthier after I eat it.

One of my favorite songs is in this video.

You can scoot forward to 8:10, but I think it's fun to watch the terrific animation that once was the hallmark of Disney.

Food For Thought

Stopping To Smell

The Essence Of Life

Ever since some person first asked, "What is God", another person has been compelled to attempt to explain. This is a good intention, but, at best, imperfect, and likely to be interpreted badly. One could suggest that God is the stuff that makes the world go 'round, natural forces, energy, the very existence of this universe. God can be found in the song of a bird or the castings of a worm. God is within and without you. God is a big turtle that carries the world on its back. God is the wind, the rain and all the elemental forces. God is a white bearded Jewish guy in the sky, that demands your best cow.

Understanding is commensurate with knowledge and an open heart.

What about a stubbed toe, or getting killed in battle?

This is a tough one to explain to someone who believes that God has singled them out for punishment, because, in a way it's possible. All things in the universe are a consequence of it's creation, therefore our thoughts and feelings are also a part of this force/energy that set it all in motion. Fear and conceit must be considered to be a part of it all, even if it's simply a childish reaction to events not being what we expected.

Like now. I am sitting out on the balcony, enjoying a comfortable, sunny morning. The sky is blue, it's 75 degrees with a feather light breeze, and I am comfortably sitting in the shade with this laptop on my lap. I could be upset with the noisy monkeys who disturb God's natural symphony with their incessant loud vocalizations and irritating machines. I could weep and gnash and rend my garments while beseeching God to relieve my suffering, as if God was singling me out for punishment.

This may sound silly and stupid, but there are millions of people who believe that's the way God works.

Just because I don't envision God as an angry man in the sky, with a rigid set of rules that include constant petitioning and groveling, doesn't invalidate that concept. It does indicate a deficiency of information and the resulting limited comprehension that is required to accept that manner of behavior, but it seems to provide solace for those who lack a deeper understanding. The danger is that they are easily fleeced and led to slaughter by unscrupulous charlatans.

Every full moon, you must hit your wife on the head with a ripe coconut 3 times or the crops will fail.
If you knew nothing about agriculture, and this was part of your tribes rituals, you would do this to avoid starving or incurring the wrath of the other villagers.

It has been explained that God created all things, including us humans, but what we do with all this, is up to us, (Free will). That is a simple and accurate explanation, but confusing to the ignorant and unenlightened.

The volcano is not controlled by tossing in a virgin, but at one time that was thought to be the case. Those societies didn't have a lot of books in their library.

What ever one calls it, or defines it, I thank God for this awareness that is me in this universe.