Welcome to The Moose Pond! The Welcomings posts give the Moose, old and new, a place to visit and share words about the weather, life, the world at large and the small parts of Moosylvania that we each inhabit.
Welcomings will be posted at the start of each week (every Sunday morning). To find the posts, just bookmark this link and Voila! (which is Moose for “I found everyone!!”).
The format is simple: each day, the first moose to arrive on-line will post a comment welcoming the new day and complaining (or bragging!) about their weather. Or mentioning an interesting or thought provoking news item. Or simply checking in.
So … what’s going on in your part of Moosylvania?
….
Good morning, Motley Meese! The week begins …
It is 67 degrees in Madison WI, on its way up to 77. Strong storms are in the forecast.
What are you reading on the Internets these days?
Have a great day, all y’alls!!
Good morning, Meese. Going up to 85 today. Am waiting impatiently for October.
Am beginning to find my way around our new Pond. Thanks, Jan, for helping us!!
Will check in later. Hope it’s a good day for all.
Ha!! My daughter would be distressed to hear about people on the Internets wanting to fast forward to October. She is so anxious for school to be out.
But I hear you! We had to turn the air conditioning on last night because we couldn’t sleep. The indoor temperature was 79 degrees and opening windows did not help (there was no breeze). I hate having to do that but we need to get some rest.
By the way, since we discussed the Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down button in the last post, I will mention it here for folks just starting the week off.
This one is pretty primitive: you click the green button and the count increases by 1. You click the red button and the count decreases by 1. It does not tell us who clicked so it can’t tell you that you clicked but it satisfies our need to click something. If you have already clicked once, by the way, the count won’t change. I am still looking for something to tell us which comments are new and also to track replies to our comments but one could spend hours looking at WordPress plugins. I tried and rejected about 6 comment rating plugins: some required links to off site services which I don’t want to use (I prefer we stay self-contained for a number of reasons, both privacy and security); others gave us ratings on posts-only even though the plugin was in the “comment rating category”. This will have to do for now.
Just noticed a terrific new feature in the Pond. I am a bit slow but Meese are not sprinters! As I scrolled down, I saw on the right links to great articles from various news outlets. Even more thanks to the POND!!!!
I was just going to come here and promote it!
Those are called RSS feeds and there is a fancy link that allows us to connect to the news feeds of any RSS capable web site. I selected 4 of the sites that I always scan every morning for news. If you notice there are two “flavors”: one that shows a snippet of the story and one that shows just the headlines. I chose to show the snippets on two sites that I think always have good content, just headlines on the others.
Let me know of any others that you would like to see and I will go see if I can find a feed link.
When I get the new theme in place (it will probably wait for the long weekend when I have a big block of time and no deadlines), those feeds will be in a box along the bottom and easier to find.
That’s really cool – wonder if there is a feed that covers other international news – Africa, Caribbean, Latin America etc = perhaps BBC?
There are lots of different feeds available on the bigger news sites so that you can select the ones you want. For example, on BBC, this page (rss links) shows all the possible choices. I just put two BBC links in: one for Latin America and one for Africa.
I just changed BBC Africa to BBC World (I missed it the first time) and expanded it. I left BBC Latin America as a separate feed.
I will be able to add more when we change the theme. I don’t want our page to get too long.
Good Morning Meese
67 and muggy here – going up to 86.
Got up early to try to make a bigger dent in paper grading. My deadline to have all grades filed is Tuesday 2PM – sigh – they never give us enough turn around time – since my last day of finals was Friday – forces you to work on this over the weekend.
I’m going to take a break till around 2PM to do my Sunday diary tending and then back into papers about Bantus and Tibetan shamans, machismo. and prostitution – heh.
Reading the news about discrimination against Asian Americans at Harvard
http://www.buzzfeed.com/emaoconnor/asian-american-groups-file-discrimination-complaint#.lp3qPg4Gn
and about the Pope canonizing two Palestinian nuns
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/05/17/us-pope-palestinians-saints-idUSKBN0O208420150517
Seeya – and have a good weekend!
The pope is quite a guy. I am not sure how Catholics like my parents feel about him (we don’t talk about religion … or politics).
That article about the Harvard lawsuit is interesting. Essentially, they are saying that Harvard is putting a cap on how many Asian Americans they will accept thus making race a factor. It is not as if they are not accepting Asians (“This year, Asian-Americans were the largest minority group admitted to Harvard’s incoming freshman class, comprising over 21% of the class of 2019.”) … but that their arbitrary cutoff leaves more qualified Asians outside looking in. Would the number be 50%, 60%, 70% if there were no caps? Is it fair to limit them to create a diverse student population? All very interesting questions.
My daughter has noticed that there is an expectation in her school that Asian students will do better in math. I have often wondered if they do better because they are expected to do better. Very often girls do worse in math because teachers expect them to do worse.
Good morning, Moosekind! It’s 68 F. here in NoVa, under cloudy skies. Going up to 80 F. with thunderstorms today. We’re just about to take Miss Pink Cheeks out to breakfast, then do some shopping at Trader Joe’s.
Haven’t looked at the news yet. Will be back later to see how everyone is doing!
It has rained so hard all morning that even my coach who doesn’t call of workouts for anything called off this morning’s. We just sat in the store & talked. Thunder, lightning & really, really hard rain. Which is fine. We’re still in a drought, I’m not going to complain about rain. The rest of today: groceries, cooking & my friend’s ice cream social – which, thankfully is indoors.
Good morning, 53 and cloudy in Bellingham today. Apparently lots of sleep is restorative…..I’m starting to feel better! I got the porches clean and ready for seasonal plants so today I’ll visit my favorite garden shop and bring some begonias home. The owner closes the shop for the winter and goes traveling and makes quilts, so it’s always a treat to see her when she opens in the spring.
This column by Paul Krugman makes thinking about begonias even more attractive……
Bushworld: a fraternity of failure http://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/bushworld-a-fraternity-of-failure/
I would like to see Bushworld limited to a house in Texas, one in Miami, and a compound in Maine. I am trying to think of one positive thing that has come from that family from Prescott Bush, Nazi appeaser, to George W. Bush, global economy crasher and destroyer of people and nations. Maybe GWB’s coining of the word “Internets”, which still brings enjoyment … or the, to-be-remembered, words of his mother Queen Barbara about how the poor (blah?) people of New Orleans were much better off living in a shelter built in the Houston Astrodome than anything they had before her son’s malfeasance led to the destruction of their homes and livelihoods. They added a “richness” (think compost) to the American lexicon.
I’d like to see all of them – AND the entire “genre” of RWNJs – restricted to one or more Starship Enterprise holodeck(s). Let them live out their fantasies without being able to hurt the rest of us. Failing that, my sometimes more than daily petition/prayer is “render them harmless”.
Meese, the Like/Dislike button has a bug and it blew up a comment posting so I removed it. This is the drawback to open source products; they are not always coded by professional programmers and may not be well tested. Plus a plugin may clash with another plugin … it is impossible to test with every possible combination. I know another one I can try and will do that next week.
It’s OK. Nobody was hurt!!!! Fear not, we shall continue to “like” silently!
Maybe … we won’t know until tomorrow’s check-in. :)
Sitting on our high of 79 in Fay., AR this Sunday afternoon – we got the storms overnight starting just after midnight. A couple of real humdingers in fairly close succession – knocked out the power on the south side of the street (I’m on the north side) and dropped a small tree on the line to my house but fortunately didn’t break it. The utility guys cut it off, no problem. It’s funny – they all asked me questions about my solar panels! :) We got almost 2″ rain which we could use – but we could also use some sunshine for the market gardens around here. We’re all petitioning (Ceiling Cat, FSM, Brighid…) for enough sunshine so the strawberries don’t turn to mush or get fuzzy – there’s supposedly another two weeks of the strawberry season but strawberries need sun!
I’m getting used to the new site I think. At least I managed to find it from home :) – like the news feeds although I don’t know how much time I’ll have to actually click through and read. Still haven’t found the “stay logged in” button but logging in isn’t that much a hassle once I remember to click on “my moose” to get there. Does anybody know who owns a letter to the editor once it’s been printed? I’ve got some I wrote some years back that would make decent diaries (I think) but if the newspaper now owns them I’d better not do that. Hope everybody’s having a nice afternoon. {{{HUGS}}}
I made some screen shots so that I could write something up to show you how to log in and stay logged in. Then I had to set it aside. I will try to get something built early this week. It is time I got the documentation done … we had two authors try to post over the weekend and they needed a couple of pointers.
Anything you write belongs to you. You give the newspaper implicit permission to print it but you could send it to other papers, your congress critter, or turn it into a blog post. Which you own also!
Bfitz!!
Here you go: How to Login, now part of the FAQ
– FAQ – How to Log In
Let me know if you have any questions.
Good morning, meese! Monday …
It is 65 degrees in Madison and the temperature will be dropping to a high of 63 as the cold front moves in. Most of the worst storms yesterday went above and below us … we got some rain, skipped the hail and damaging winds. It will be sunny so that will help.
There was (righteous) anger last night on Twitter over the way white-guy bikers were treated after a gunfight left 9 dead and dozens wounded. Police found over 100 guns and the fight spread out to 4 different locations, including the hospital. Here are the suspects being “detained”:
I don’t see any tear gas. Where are the armored tanks and the bazookas being aimed at these guys who are suspected of a mass murder?
And Jeb(!) is back at it, declaring that marriage is a sacrament and only meant for those who intend to raise children. As offensive as that is, he also promotes the theme that all the Republican 2016 candidates are spouting … that poverty is caused by single mothers. No. Poverty is caused by U.S. society being rigged so that the working poor can never get ahead. It is caused by the housing market and the job market and the colleges being rigged back in the 50s and 60s so that few black families could make the move into the middle class. It works as a fig leaf for the Republicans and appeals to their base because they just need to pray and don’t have to raise taxes to pay for the infrastructure and the training and things that will bolster the economy for those left behind when the American dream was restricted to those with the preferred melanin.
The good news is that the darlings of Iowa, Rubio and Walker, are being exposed as blithering idiots. 2016 will present a choice between the adults and the children with their war toys and outdated ideas of American society. If I have time, I will post something on the Iowa Straw Poll … there may not be one!
Sorry I had to remove the rating tool. I will find one that works and doesn’t blow up our site. Then we can all go back and re-rate the comments again!! :)
See all y’alls later!
More on the Waco massacre. This Tweet:
Succinct and says it all.
Good morning, Meese. It’s 61 heading for 69.
The news from Iraq is horrible.
Time for coffee and more news. Am so glad to have the news feeds handy here at the Pond.
Ho[e it’s a good day for all.
Good morning, Meese! I love my email subscription to this site–all I have to do is click on the email and it brings me right here, with no tiresome login. Lots of news today, what with the biker brawl and all. It’s a gorgeous morning here in NoVa, 68 F. with the promise of thunderstorms later today. Lots of work to get through but right now I have to dress and head over to Younger Son’s house to walk Miss Pink Cheeks to school. Back later!
I remember my disappointment when I clicked “Subscribe to this site” at the old MM and found that it didn’t work. I also like knowing when things post but I do it the old-fashioned way: by clicking and looking at the front page occasionally. I should probably subscribe, eh?
I actually think 62 degrees, my current temperature, is perfect and have all my windows open taking it in.
I have to go set up my day. Back later!!
Well, we had an interesting day in central Texas yesterday. First a really heavy thunderstorm — seriously heavy rain, as in great big drops & lots of them, and lots of lightning. Then there’s the shooting up in Waco. Far enough to be distant, near enough to be scary. You’d think idiocy would eventually die out, but people manage to keep on being frighteningly stupid.
Well, my earworm is at least good: California by my babies. Happy & poignant at the same time, definitely written by an Irishman.
I saw flooding in Houston on my teevee! And idiots driving their cars through knee high water. Sheesh, don’t they know what that does to engines?
every time it rains, our weather people have to repeat, over & over “turn around, don’t drown”
A couple of years ago, a couple of senior citizens were swept away because he decided to drive around the barricades. She was rescued, he wasn’t. Because he couldn’t wait/thought he was smarter than the cops/whatever. Last year, a cop was nearly swept away rescuing a suburban mom who drove around barricades. This was shortly after a sheriff’s deputy died because she was checking a creek for washed-away idiots. (I saw part of the fallen police officer ceremony at the White House — hers was one of the stories President Obama related, made me cry). People are stupid.
anotherdemocrat, how is Lake Travis doing? Is it filling up now that you’ve had so much rain in Austin?
Yes, the shooting in Waco is depressing. I think anger management should be required from grades K-12 for men and 11-12 for women.
yes, there was finally enough rain, in the right place that I think they’ve been able to open 1 public ramp. it is still 40 feet low, but less bad than it was
Mornin Meese
Mired in papers :)
In one more day I’ll be free!!!!
Yay! Denise, do you get the summer off, so to speak? I know you will continue writing and giving speeches, both of which involve work, but will you be teaching classes too?
Yes! Classes start back last week in August but till then I’m free!
Back for a couple of minutes. Yes, it’s awful news about Ramadi. To think this was all caused by Dubya’s need to be a “he-man” by invading a country that had not harmed us. He wanted to be a “wore prezi-dent,” but a less inspiring person never lived.
Am wondering why the donations of George-Step-in-Awfulness to the Clinton Foundation should be considered controversial. Surely his private money is his to contribute to those causes that please him? How is this a scandal? Someone tell me, quickly!
Have to go out and move the lavender, plant another lavender, transplant the lemon balm, and plant the basil. The thought of doing all this hard work makes me shudder. Dearly is about to go to his Monday job at the airport. The baby waved bye-bye to me when I left this morning. Today is his day to go to day care.
Wishing a good day to all Meese and hoping for sunshine for anotherdemocrat, bfitz, and princesspat!
I find it odd that people are all aghast that a guy who used to work for Bill Clinton donated money to his charity. I guess if he contributed to something political, it might be controversial but as far as I can tell, The Clinton Foundation’s main purpose is to do good. None of that money goes to Hillary Clinton’s campaign.
George Stephanopolous would not even exist as a media figure if he had not worked for the Clintons. He certainly has nothing that sets him apart from every other beltway pundit.
Just reading about the biker gang shoot out in Waco – hmmm – wonder why the headlines aren’t using words like “thugs”?
Good morning, 52 and cloudy in Bellingham today but we should have moments of sunshine! Thanks to some new pillows for the chairs and a lovely yellow begonia in a new green pot my front porch looks welcoming. Now to do the same for the back porch, and then I’ll start planting the outdoor containers. I used to have a planing plan for all the pots before I started but that’s too much work this year so my new plan to to just focus on one or two pots at a time, plant what I find, and enjoy the process!
I’ve tried planting fewer pots because 24 is a lot to plan and care for but I like where they are and the color and interest they add to the garden so I just need to make doing it easier. I’ve been using perennials, small shrubs and ferns so each pot has some plants that are permanent. Adding the seasonal flowers and contrast leaf textures has helped simplify the fun.
Princesspat, your front and back porches sound so lovely! I’m trying to clean up our back porch in preparation for the summer. Wonder if you can advise me–which garden pests attack zinnia leaves? It’s got to be an insect because the leaves look “lacy.”
Weeds are growing between the flagstones in the patio. First I’ll scrape up as many as I can, but there is some kind of nontoxic weed killer one can make at home involving white vinegar and a couple of other things. Will have to Google that one. It was all over Facebook last year.
Have a good day!
squeeeee
article: http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2015/05/18/presiding-at-same-sex-wedding-ruth-bader-ginsburg-emphasizes-a-key-word/?smid=tw-share
76 heading for 81 and sunshine today in Fay., AR – things are a little calmer today in the office. While I still have summer payroll and fall class issues to deal with, there are fewer of them so I don’t feel like I’m trying to wade a flood (a well-known stressful and rather stupid thing to do). Sadly there will always be Waco-like things (we Texans don’t refer to that place as Whacko for nothing) – Agatha Christie called stupidity the “unforgivable sin” which was always punished but really stupidity is a disease, a rather contagious one, that doesn’t truly manifest until “maturity” when the person with said disease has already reproduced usually already infected offspring. sigh.
So far have gotten to the New Moose :) by googling – and found if I click on the “howdy” it gives me a choice of me to go to. When I do, I’m logged in so I guess I did click the right stuff somewhere or other. {{{HUGS}}}
I shall have to try the Googles and see if I get a Howdy. WordPress is quite friendly as you can see. :)
google keeps trying to force me to choose the .com version, but if I’m insistent on keying in the .net it gets me here.
Do you know how to create a Favorite or Bookmark in your browser, bfitz? That is how I find the moose: I click on an icon on my favorites list.
Here is the link to the site: MotleyMoose.net
Note to Meese:
– I have two new plugins I want to try. I will try to do them first thing in the morning which would be about 4:30am Central, 5:30am Eastern..
– If you have site issues during that time frame, please give it about 15 minutes and try back. You may have to refresh your screen if you keep the Moose open in a tab.
They did not work. I might have to bite the bullet and tie comment ratings into an off-site scoring service. I have a few more things to look at.