Shadow Flutter

Why, oh, why are those periods and commas inside the quotation mark, even when they aren’t part of the quote, unless there is a following parenthetical phrase (like a citation), in which case they come after the closing parenthesis outside the quotation marks?  Correct: “The best genre fiction today,” according to me, “is fantasy.”   Incorrect: “The best genre fiction today”, according to me, “is fantasy”.   Correct: "Aztec cities were much cleaner than European cites of the same  time period" (Samuels, Aztec Culture, 1972).   Incorrect:  "Aztec cities were much cleaner than European cites of the same  time period." (Samuels, Aztec Culture, 1972) And why, oh why are those question marks inside the quotation mark when quoting a question but outside the quotation mark when the quote is not a question but is quoted inside the writer’s question?   Correct: Ann asked, “What are you doing?”   Incorrect: Ann asked, “What are you doing...

Dyke Marsh  and Wildlife Preserve is located on the Potomac between Alexandria, Virginia and Mount Vernon off the George Washington Memorial parkway.  The preserve is over 400 acres of tidal marsh, floodplains, and swamps.  There are parking lots with picnic tables and walking/biking trails if you are so inclined to visit.  I visited Monday, and nothing had yet bloomed, but I did see a bald eagle perched high in a tree.  Unfortunately I did not have my camera with me at that moment. Wilson Bridge The bridge connects Virginia and Maryland along I-495. As the day wore on some trees displayed there nascent blooms. A lonely tree on a lonely island. It was the best day of the year with a blue sky.

The Camel Library of Kenya serves the Nomads of the desert.  Nomads are poor and can't afford their own books, and there is an 85.3% illiteracy rate among the people the library servers.  There are 3,500 members, and the books match the syllabus of the national education system. Story books are available for children.  A book can be borrowed for two weeks, the time it takes the camel library for a return visit. A camel library serves the nomadic people of the Gobi Desert too.  Above a little girl is mesmerized by the colorful covers of several children's books.

Crimean War The Crimean War brought us glorious cultural icons such as The Charge of the Light Brigade and Florence Nightingale , but the war itself was brutal.  Fought on one side by Russia and on the other by Britain, France, Turkey, and Sardinia, the main causes were religious and economic.  Tensions over access to the Holy Land between Catholic France and Orthodox Russia boiled over into  riots in Bethlehem resulting in the deaths of several Orthodox monks in 1853.  Tsar Nicholas I blamed the "sick man of the empire," Turkey, ruler of the Ottoman empire, for the deaths, and Turkey responded by declaring war on Russia.  Britain and France, concerned over Russian expansion and their seizing control of trade routes, sided with Turkey.   Human toll  (Deaths):  Country ------ KIA ---------  Wounds ---- Disease British             2,700            2,000...

The Couple that gardens together stays together.

Myths attempt to answer questions that are eternal to all civilizations: Where did I come from? How much control do I have over my life? What must I do to survive? How should I live?  They often reflect the political, economic, social, and religious foundations of the culture, and are ensconced in the mystery and mysticism of nature.  Ancient civilizations were so dependent upon the forces of nature for success or failure that these forces were often personified as gods. Fertility Myths Fertility myths respond to a need for economic security in a world dependent upon nature for stability.  Lives in ancient cultures revolved around the agricultural year.  Because a good harvest was central to survival, fertility --  reproduction, birth, growth, abundance -- came to be personified as a powerful fertility god, and the seasons came to reflect the cycle of life.  Spring is the season of birth and summer is the season of growth. ...

Read it here .  Yes, they have been reading and discussing Finnegan's Wake for 18 years.

Admont Abbey Founded in 1074, the abbey's architecture, frescoes, sculptures, and books and manuscripts comprise one of the largest late Baroque works of art in Europe. Admont Church The church was designed by Wilhelm Buchner after the original one was destroyed by fire in 1865. Admont Library The Admont Library, which resides in the monestary, was designed by architect Josef Hueber, and is home to the largest monastic library in the world.  Containing over 200,000 volumes, 1,400 manuscripts — earliest from 8th century — and over 500 incunabula comprise the library jewels.  The library has been called the 8th wonder of the world and is open to the public. Ceiling Frescoes The library's ceiling frescoes were created by  Bartolomeo Altomonte . Sculptures The library's sculptures were created by Josef Stammel

We spend too much time worshiping (or damning) our president.  Not just this president, but all presidents.  We worship him because the national media covers him around the clock.   The national media covers him 24X7, because if they can make him important and ubiquitous, they make themselves indispensable and almost as important.  Everything the president says, no matter how mundane and irrelevant, is televised and reported.  He burps -- news flash -- “President burps.  Details at 11.”  He is portrayed as constantly under siege or victorious -- his every thought dramatic, his every decision apocalyptic.  We are taught to wait on his every word.  Like in the old commercial where everyone shushes everyone else to hear E.F. Hutton speak, the media forces the president’s every utterance upon us, no matter how irrelevant the utterance might be.     The reality is we live out lives locally.  What happens to our famili...

A year late, but what the heck. We could talk all day about why and how Romney lost the election.  He hemmed and hawed over releasing his tax returns, his foreign policy was an extension of Bush’s, he accused 40% of the population of preferring to live off the other 60%, and he couldn’t attack Obamacare because Obamacare was Romneycare with a makeover.  But the real reason, I think, most people didn’t vote for him is they didn’t feel comfortable with him.  You can agree all day on policy, the Middle East, global strategic maneuvering, the economy, and health care.  In the end, you have to feel comfortable with the person you are bestowing so much power on, and Romney was never that person.  Just something about him.  People don’t mention it, but I think the dog affair hurt him a lot.  I know I it hurt him with me.  He placed the family dog in an animal cage and then tied the cage to the top of his car.  The poor dog stayed in that cage for th...