Editorial

February 4th, 2010

Weather Report

The Arctic ocean is warming up, icebergs are growing scarcer and in some places the seals are finding the water too hot, according to a report to the Commerce Department yesterday from Consul Ifft, at Bergen, Norway. Reports from fishermen, seal hunters and explorers all point to a radical change in climate conditions and hitherto unheard-of temperatures in the Arctic zone. Exploration expeditions report that scarcely any ice has been met as far north as 81 degrees 29 minutes. Soundings to a depth of 3,100 meters showed the gulf stream still very warm. Great masses of ice have been replaced by moraines of earth and stones, the report continued, while at many points well known glaciers have entirely disappeared. Very few seals and no white fish are found in the eastern Arctic, while vast shoals of herring and smelts, which have never before ventured so far north, are being encountered in the old seal fishing grounds. Within a few years it is predicted that due to the ice melt the sea will rise and make most coastal cities uninhabitable.

I'm sorry, I neglected to mention that this report was from November 2, 1922, as reported by the AP and published in The Washington Post ...
•••••
Is it just me or do the sports pages seem a lot less interesting now that the football season is winding down? (At least one person in this household is giving three cheers for the imminent end of the football season. Clue: It t’ain’t me!

I don’t get excited about basketball and baseball? Forget it. We have a team who will be very lucky if they reach .500. I’m not a big fan of baseball. I loved to manage Little League baseball teams, loved to coach the kids, even enjoyed playing the game when I was still a young man. But watching baseball? Not my cup of ginger.

Speaking of football, which, if memory serves me correctly, I just was . . . my heart is with Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints in the Super Bowl. But my logical self says if Peyton Manning is as sharp as he was in the playoffs, it will be the Colts taking home the big trophy. In any event, it should be an interesting game.
•••••
Is it just me or do you also get fed up with all the plastic wrap you get when you buy something? I just bought a package of flash drives for my computer and had to get a pair of scissors, a jackhammer, two vice-grips and an industrial crane to open the package.

Why can’t they come up with easy-to-open packaging. A pox on their business. (I’ve been wanting to say that for years. This is the first opportunity.)
Kudos to Mayor ProTem Dick Daniels and Councilmember Olga Diaz who joined together to take a census of homeless people within the city limits of Escondido. Hard, dirty, drudgery type work, hiking through areas one normally doesn’t hike through - trying to find the people who need help the most. It was a group effort and each team was given a specific area to search . . . some came up empty, others found homeless people. A worthy effort and something that needed to be done.
•••••
Anyone else notice how much more boring golf is to watch on tv when Tiger Woods isn’t playing? I didn’t watch a second of the Farmers Insurance Golf tournament from Torrey Pines. If Tiger ain’t playing, it ain’t golf.
•••••
Those rascals at the Lake San Marcos Jazz Club are at it again. For some toe-tappin’ music, head on over to the Old Spaghetti Factory, 111 N. Twin Oaks, San Marcos, this Sunday and take in the Red Pepper Jazz Band from 1-4pm. Questions? Call 760-471-0155. Full bar and food available. Have fun and think of me! $10 at the door.