With my ongoing battle against squirrels taking advantage of food intended for birds I thought that this little video was hilarious! I have a feeder that spins when a squirrel tries to get to the food (they have learned to just stay away from it).
BTW … my capture and release program is still doing great. There are only a couple of tree rats that still come around and they remain on the ground rather than climbing up on the feeder.
Over two years ago I wrote a blog entry on this subject and observed that throughout history the United States has been slow to grant basic rights to its citizenry. Since that blog entry on the subject, still more countries throughout the world have recognized the rights of their citizens to marry whomever they wish. Meanwhile, United States citizens are forbidden this basic human right.
To date, the following countries have recognized the rights of their citizens and now permit various forms of unions between two people of the same sex. The rules vary from country to country and range from total equality with heterosexual couples to various forms of civil unions:
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Last night I attended the last portion of a macro photography class I had been taking. In this session we (the students) were presenting samples of our work from a prior day of shooting and it was being judged. And … miracles do happen … I won first prize!
The shot that won is above, it is of a passion flower at JC Raulston Arboretum here in Raleigh. The prize was a gift certificate to Southeastern Camera. All I need now is about 25 more of them and I can buy a new Canon 40D body!
Some of you readers may be aware that I have several websites on the Internet. Currently all of them are hosted with a single company located in Tampa, Florida. I have been reasonably happy with their service but I always have my eyes open for something better.
And a recent piece of spam email promised just that!
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Many people are calling for the deportation of the estimated eight to fifteen million undocumented immigrants that are in our country claiming that these aliens are mooching off of the system, that they take but give nothing back, that they don’t pay their fair share.
Well … I grant that there is a little truth to those statements … but only a little. Read on and you’ll see why.
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Just what laws have they violated that earns them the title of “Illegal Immigrant”?
Surprisingly the law against entering this country without permission is a simple misdemeanor. The punishment for it is up to 6 months in jail and a civil penalty of up to $250. It can become a felony on subsequent prosecutions. Don’t believe me? Read the law for yourself.
But not all “illegal immigrants” crossed our borders without permission! Well over a million (maybe two) are here as a result of overstaying their visas. They come from all over the world and entered the United States legally on tourist, student or other type of visas and just didn’t leave.
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This post is different from most on my blog – it is not about me but rather is a story told to me by a friend. I think he has some interesting things to say and I’ll be quoting him throughout the rest of this post. Got it?
Quite a few years ago I was involved in distributing mp3’s on the Internet – nothing big time, just the ripping and conversion of CDs into mp3 format. Nothing was sold – no money was made – the mp3’s were made available over the Internet via FTP and IRC channels. It was strictly a labor of love done anonymously. I don’t have exact numbers but over the years, the quantity of files distributed via these methods was well into the 100’s of thousands.
Today these FTP servers and IRC channels with mp3’s have largely disappeared. There are still a few around if you know where to look (try IRC networks in countries other than the United States or Europe) but even these are disappearing. One source of pirated mp3’s has remained and is going stronger than ever – that is Usenet – it’s older than the Internet and it’s anonymous. To clear up a bit about what it is read this: article.
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