We've Done It!

We've broken the record set in 1933 for the most hurricanes in one season. Tropical Storm Alpha, the first system using a name from the Greek alphabet, has officially formed in the Atlantic. We ran out of names with Wilma, which will be the eighth storm to hit Florida in 14 months.

A scary possibility has emerged. This is from a weather blog:

The GFDL model is calling for an interesting development. It wants TD25 to strengthen into Category 3 Hurricane Alpha east of the Bahamas. Then once Wilma crosses Florida, it merges the two storms over the Gulf Stream, tracks them up the coast, and places a Cat 2 hurricane off Cape Cod. Food for thought!

And here I sit, grateful and sorry at the same time, for the disaster that has befallen the Yucatan Peninsula. Why do these horrible storms force us to prefer someone else's suffering to our own? Now we await the inevitable, winds even stronger than Hurricane Frances and Hurricane Jeanne from last year. The cars are gassed up, money withdrawn from the ATM, water, ice, batteries and cans of tuna stocked. Tomorrow the shutters go down, plants brought in, outdoor cats put in the laundry room (they're sprayers...can't come in the house). Now we wait for this thing to pass, like a huge gallstone. Thank God for beer.

Sports Giants

This shot always makes me laugh. Shaquille O'Neal looks like he's saying, "You're kidding me!" Earl Boykins, of the Denver Nuggets, is only 5'5" (1,65m). Shaq is 7'1" (2,16m). You could make a tent out of Shaq's shorts and shelter a family of four.

Then I saw this:


(AP photo)

The New York Liberty's Becky Hammon, in front, guards the Connecticut Sun's 7-foot-two-inch center Margo Dydek, of Poland, during the second half of their WNBA game at Madison Square Garden. My God, she's an inch taller than Shaq!

Salman Rushdie on Religion

I found this quote by Salman Rushdie on the Bill Maher Show website and thought it was awesome:

"That old-fashioned philosopher Karl Marx used to say that religion was the opiate of the masses. Now it's the crystal meth of the masses."

Aristolochia gigantea

I took this picture of Aristolochia gigantea at night. It's climbing up the chinaberry tree and rambling through the Xanthosoma esculenta (Elephant Ear) area. At around 8" long, the flower is like Aristolochia elegans (Dutchman's Pipe) on steroids. It's a major food source for the larvae of the swallowtail butterfly, so I don't often find flowers that are intact. It always reminded me of grandma's calico dress. The velvety black interior and the bright yellow center are just gorgeous.

I Ain't Superstitious, But A Black Cat Has Crossed My Trail

(jjoats)

Why does it seem like every time the Bush administration gets some bad PR, a terror alert goes up within days? I think we all know the answer to that question. Keith Olbermann suggests that in the last three years there have been about 13 similar coincidences - a political downturn for the administration, followed by a “terror event” - a change in alert status, an arrest, a warning. He describes each of them in the article. Here's Number Two:

June 6th, 2002. Colleen Rowley, the FBI agent who tried to alert her superiors to the specialized flight training taken by Zacarias Moussaoui, whose information suggests the government missed a chance to break up the 9/11 plot, testifies before Congress. Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Graham says Rowley’s testimony has inspired similar pre-9/11 whistle-blowers.

June 10th, 2002. Four days later, speaking from Russia, Attorney General John Ashcroft reveals that an American named Jose Padilla is under arrest, accused of plotting a radiation bomb attack in this country. Padilla had, by this time, already been detained for more than a month.

As the approval rating continues to fall, Bush's handlers scramble to repair the damage. First the "terra" alert in New York. Then the photo op at a Habitat For Humanity site.


(jjoats)

Then trumping the race card by pulling a couple of really nervous black kids from a mostly white classroom. They should have made him pay them a fee for using them as props. The Lauratron doesn't look too happy in that picture either.

Life In Paradise

Pythons swallowing alligators and kitty cats,
crocodiles in carports. Never a dull moment in South Florida.

UPDATE: It's happened again! This time a 10-foot-long African rock python ate a turkey in a Miami nursery and couldn't get back through the fence due to his bloated tummy. They've captured him and will transport him to a zoo in Central Florida.

PETA Nails Wintour!

Hooray for PETA! For the second time in a year they've nailed Wintour, the editor of Vogue magazine and one of the world's biggest advocates of fur. This time it was a vegetarian tofu tart.

Adding to Wintour's charm, Andre Leon Talley, who is an editor at Vogue, said on Oprah that Anna does not like fat people.

Salsa Night!

Eeeepaaa!! Last Saturday we found a neat little place in Delray Beach with a live salsa band. It's a restaurant called Brisa Atlántica, off East Atlantic, in what used to be a little house. The place was packed to the gills, but we managed to find a table. There are tables outside too. All were filled and people milled around inside and out, windows and doors open, music wafting into the humid night air. No air conditioning! Fortunately, the nights are starting to get a little cooler, but it's still balmy and very South Florida warm.

The musicians were crammed into a little corner, just inside the entrance. I don't know how they fit all their equipment and themselves in that little space, with any elbow room to play. In the picture above you can see the conguero, the timbalero and the sax player/singer. Out of view are the pianist and the female singer. They were excellent! Wow! No real dance floor, just a walk space that everyone scrunched into to cha cha and mambo. You can see how warm it was from the sax player's shirt. It looks like someone poured water on him.

The lovely Latina in the picture below just stood out of the crowd with her beauty. Ah, to be that young and pretty!



If you want to listen to the best salsa on the planet, check out Alma del Barrio on KXLU in Los Angeles. It's on from 9:00AM til 9:00PM EST every weekend. Click on Listen Live and enjoy!

And if you're in the West Palm Beach area next weekend, be sure to check out the Pachanga LatinFest downtown at the Meyer Amphitheater. The fabuloso Tito Nieves is the headliner on Saturday night.

Understanding Women 101

From the Female Lexicon, a few definitions that may be useful to men...

FINE
This is the word women use to end an argument when they are right and you need to shut up.

FIVE MINUTES
If she is getting dressed, this is half an hour. Five minutes is only five minutes if you have just been given 5 more minutes to watch the game before helping around the house.

NOTHING
This is the calm before the storm. This means "something," and you should be on your toes. Arguments that begin with 'Nothing' usually end in "Fine"

GO AHEAD
This is a dare, not permission. Don't do it.

LOUD SIGH!
This is not actually a word, but is a non-verbal statement often misunderstood by men. A "Loud Sigh" means she thinks you are an idiot and wonders why she is wasting her time standing here and arguing with you over "Nothing"

THAT'S OKAY
This is one of the most dangerous statements that a woman can make to a man. "That's Okay" means that she wants to think long and hard before deciding how and when you will pay for your mistake.

THANKS
A woman is thanking you. Do not question it or faint.
Just say you're welcome.

WHATEVER
It's a woman's way of saying *!#@ YOU!

Distant Cousins?

Is it just me, or does Kelly Osbourne's new boyfriend...


(Hat Tip: City Rag)

look a lot like her mother, Sharon?

Janis Joplin 1943-1970

35 years ago today Janis Joplin's bright flame burned out. Only 27-years-old, she died of a heroin overdose in a Los Angeles motel room. I can still remember where I was when I heard the news and how sad it made me.

Random Begonia

Begonia 'River Nile' is one of many unique rhizomatous hybrids by Brad Thompson, in California. I love the neon lime green centers and dark burgandy edges, as well as the double helix at the umbo. The plant pictured is only in a 4" pot, but the leaves are easily 5" across. I once had a 10" hanging basket of it growing in an enormous rounded mound and spilling over the sides. You can grow a lot of begonia in a small pot.

As with most rhizomatous begonias, flowering occurs from late winter to mid-spring. This shot of B. 'River Nile' flowers was taken at night. Most of the blooms haven't opened yet, but you can see two open female flowers on the lower left.

For Better or For Worse

This is a beautiful shot of New York's Central Park. I essentially stole it from the For Better or For Worse Web site. I hope that this link to my favorite comic makes up for it. I've been reading this strip in my local newspaper for over 20 years and feel as though the Patterson family of Canada actually exists. One of the characters actually has my paternal grandmother's maiden name.

It was really interesting to read Lawrence's Story, from a four-week series in 1993, that caused a furor. It was a controversial subject (a gay teenager coming out) and was handled with a lot of sensitivity and taste. Nevertheless, it caused an outcry, mainly, of course, in the highly judgmental South.