NASAEarth_EN-US296696069Light pollution or progress?  It’s all relative.  If you consider North Korea, the lack of night light represents an impoverished, backward culture.  If you are speaking of Las Vegas, the light represents waste,  opulence, and wealth.

Many folks have no where to sky-watch because of city lights.  The entire east coast suffers from light pollution.  Going to the country around here isn’t looking at the night sky like you would see in Montana or New Mexico.   Still, it’s far superior to in-town.

I challenge the supervisors to designate one of the western parks like Silver Lake as a sky watch park during celestial events.  It would cost a park ranger on those nights, that’s all.

39 Thoughts to “Open Thread………………Earth Day……………………..Monday, April 22”

  1. That’s one of the major things I miss about being at sea.

  2. You know, I never thought about that. You are right.

    Of course my seafaring ventures haven’t taken me any further than the Chesapeake Bay.

  3. Oh…I forgot. HAPPY LENIN’S BIRTHDAY!

  4. punchak

    Just received the latest National Geographic. Article about what fertilization
    is doing to the earth well worth reading.

  5. punchak

    Bearing Drift has something about fracking in the George Washington National Forest.

  6. Scout

    Moon – to answer your question from the Cherry Blossom sticky, I don’t think Antares was visible from the DC area. If it had been a night or early dawn launch, it perhaps might have been. I was at the launch site and, in broad daylight, the rocket was visible to the naked eye up to about 25 miles in altitude. But it is an amazing story as to what Virginia and NASA have done there on a very limited budget. The old hands from NASA are saying that Wallops is sort of where Cape Canaveral was in the late 1950s. I predict that it will be a frequent tourist stop as launches of large orbital payloads become more frequent.

  7. New poll out of South Carolinia:

    86% in favor of background checks. 14% oppose.

    Romney won SC by 18 points.

  8. @Moon-howler
    Do you have a link to that poll? I’m curious to see the questions.

  9. You can find it from the Morning Joe Show. I saw it on TV.

  10. It was 12 % opposed. I was wrong on the 14%

  11. BOCS Meeting:

    Nice presentation by the people who live around Pageland Lane. The state and county will not be satisfied until every blade of grass is asphalted over.

    What a screw job this tri county parkway is. I keep looking for the benefits to PWC.

  12. Lafayette

    Love what they did to voice their opinions!! These jokers need to remember we ran Disney off because it was too close to the battlefield and it would destroy the area. Ha! Look at the Vinyl Villages they threw up in the more rural area. Now, they want to blaze a path near the battlefield. I loved Corey once again blaming the state for our roads. He stated it was a state road, not a county road. Well, I thought we here in PW built our own roads. So, which is it?

  13. Lafayette

    Where is Mom?!!!

    1. ????
      McCoart building?????

      @Lafayette

    2. @Lafayette

      He doesn’t answer as well as he used to.

  14. Jim Livingston (PWEA) was quite eloquent. I totally agree with him. He asked that the board adopt a budget that took all citizens into consideration.

    Donna Widawski spoke eloquently on behalf of the women in our county. Good for her. One Atta Girl does a lot do bury some “Aw-sh**s!”

    The women she mentioned have been unnecessarily victimized, ridiculed and insulted in the blogosphere. There definitely has been an attack on women from those quarters.

    (I stop at praising Corey for budget leadership. That I cannot do!)

  15. Corey suggested that Columbus Day be restored and DORM still out. There is new found state money.

    How freaking blind these people are. The DORM program is worthy of saving and will save the County money.

  16. Mom

    @Moon-howler
    As regards the Bi-County Truckway, err Parkway and Corey’s position on it, it depends on what day he’s speaking and out of which side of his mouth. He promised today to voice their concerns to VDOT and the State but has also stated that it is necessary, remember, “Grow or Die”. The Parkway plan is nothing like what was originally presented to the public at the public hearings. Existing lanes are being converted to HOV/HOT lanes and HOV/HOT lane restrictions on all lanes between I-66 and Route 50 are now the preferred option. They’re all a bunch of lying scumbags and the sad part of it is that the prime movers and supporters, Connaugton, Tyerear and Stewart are all from Prince Willy as is the enabler, one of our newest residents, Cuccinelli.

  17. When two people with such diametrically opposite political viewpoints can independently agree that county women are being demonized, we might be on to something. I wrote about this situation about 6 months ago. There was great denial, yet it continued.

  18. @Mom

    Lying scumbag seems to cover it nicely. I just can’t see what PWC is going to get out of it that is to its benefit.

    God help those who live along Dumfries Road should it happen.

  19. Did anyone else happen to note the abandoned backpack in the center aisle at the BOCS meeting, towards the end?

    I almost called the police.

  20. Mom

    @Moon-howler
    It was just Corey’s bag of flip-flops, nothing to see there, move along.

    1. I am tired of Corey telling first responders to hurry it along. How rude! Of all the people up there, he should take the time to hear what they have to say.

      How dismissive. Maybe they should hurry along if he gets robbed or has a fire…in the other direction.

  21. Is there 4G cell service anywhere in Western PWC?

  22. Lafayette

    Saw the Cooch’s wife will be in the first of many ads to come. First one set to air next week. It’s going to be a long campaign season in the Commonwealth.
    Sic Semper Tyrannis

  23. Elena

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/virginias-abortion-assault-claims-a-victim/2013/04/26/88f152f2-ad22-11e2-a8b9-2a63d75b5459_story.html?hpid=z5

    Hillcrest was partly a victim of its own success in providing women with ready access to birth control. Like most other clinics around the state, it saw demand for abortions dwindle as more women took advantage of options to prevent unwanted pregnancies.

    Yep, Cuccinelli sure does fit the Gump saying “stupid is as stupid does”. Close a clinic that prevents abortion.

  24. Medicare beneficiaries have saved a total of about $4.5 billion on prescription medications because of the 2010 health care law since January 2011, the Department of Health and Human Services plans to announce today.

    Thanks to George Bush for the Medicare RX and to Barack Obama for the ACA health care law.

  25. Watching

    @Mom

    You are joking right? Cuccinelli isn’t one of our residents, is he?

    From Wikipedia:

    During his Senate career, Cuccinelli introduced bills urging the United States Congress to amend the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution to revoke citizenship rights for children of illegal immigrants who are born in the U.S.,to allow businesses to sue others that hire undocumented immigrants, and to establish inability to speak English in the workplace as cause for disqualification to receive unemployment benefits.

    1. That’s the good old American spirit! NOT!!!!!!

      What a POS. Plus what a waste of time. Why is he urging the US Congress to do anything when he is a state senator.

      @Watching.

      I am interested to see what Kelly thinks of this aspect of the Cooch.

  26. Watching

    Cooch has so much baggage he looks like the baggage claim area of Dulles. It just keeps going round and round and keeps coming out. I don’t believe he is electable but I guess will we see.

  27. Starryflights

    Rightwing radio host tells Newtown families, ‘Go to hell’
    Clare Kim, @clarehkim
    8:03 PM on 04/18/2013

    A Minnesota radio host had a message for the families of the Newtown shooting victims during a segment on his show about gun rights: “Go to hell.”

    When the topic turned to how the family members of the 26 victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting have become outspoken gun control advocates, bringing their efforts to Capitol Hill and meeting with lawmakers before Wednesday’s tense vote on the gun bill, radio host Bob Davis said on his morning news talk show last Friday that the Newtown families should just deal with their tragedy instead of infringing on his right to bear arms.

    http://tv.msnbc.com/2013/04/18/rightwing-radio-host-tells-newtown-families-go-to-hell/

    What a terrible thing to say to the families of the Newtown victims.

    1. Those are drop dead gorgeous.

      Thanks.

  28. Pat.Herve

    If the sequester cuts mean nothing, and Obama can fix it all with a wave of his hand – how come Congress passed legislation to restore funding to the FAA?

    Why is the House trying to keep the US Gov in the Helium business? I thought there were all for free enterprise – http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/federal-helium-program-how-temporary-becomes-forever/2013/04/26/80ef1148-adb8-11e2-98ef-d1072ed3cc27_story.html

  29. Wolverine

    Great photos, Rich. You are skilled with a camera. Given the historical nature of your subjects and the fact that our locales often change and the old things disappear, I would say that those photos, with identification notes, belong in the photo files of your local museum or the local history section of the library.

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