Living Online

FROM A FARM KID, NOW AT SAN DIEGO MARINE CORPS RECRUIT DEPOT Dear Ma and Pa: I am well. Hope you are. Tell Brother Walt and Brother Elmer the Marine Corps beats working for old man Minch by a mile. Tell them to join up quick before maybe all of the places are filled. I was restless at first because you got to stay in bed till nearly 6 a.m., but am getting so I like to sleep late. Tell Walt and Elmer all you do before breakfast is smooth your cot and shine some things. No hogs to slop, feed to pitch, mash to mix, wood to split, fire to lay. Men got to shave but it is not so bad, there's warm water. Breakfast is strong on trimmings like fruit juice, cereal, eggs, bacon, etc, but kind of weak on chops, potatoes, ham, steak, fried eggplant, pie and other regular food, but tell Walt and Elmer you can always sit by the two city boys that live on coffee. Their food plus yours holds you till noon when you get fed again. It's no wonder these city boys can't walk much. We go on "

A Thleen-Git (Tlingit) Legend of the Creation of Water - adapted by The North Star, Vol.4, No. 12, November 1891, Sitka, Alaska When Yea'hl created the world for his people, Thleen-Git, he did not provide water for them to drink. Ganook, a most powerful chief and magician had control of all fresh water. Ganook lived in a distant world; it was almost impossible to gain access into the house where he jealously guarded the water. But Yea'hl was wise. The White Yea'hl must provide water for his people whom he had created. After a journey of many days he came to the magician's house. The White Bird changed into a man. He saluted Ganook with the familiarity of an old friend, "I am cold, my noble partner, you have there a nice warm fire. You will let me warm myself?" By some power Yea'hl exercised over Ganook he forgot for the time his precious water. The house was very warm, and after a time Ganook, the mighty magician fell asleep. Immediately Yea'hl changed

It is interesting that I should find this Google Earth Challenge on Meeyauw's blog today, because I was reading about a nearby confluence in the other window. The Degree Confluence Project's ( http://www.confluence.org/ ) goal is "to visit each of the latitude and longitude integer degree intersections in the world, and to take pictures at each location. The pictures, and stories about the visits, will then be posted" on their Web site. There is a confluence up at Lake Tahoe and I figured out where thanks to Google Earth . 39°N 120°W is located at the crook in the California and Nevada stateline (the white line in the picture below). By the way, I'm using Corel PSP to capture screen prints from Google Earth . I don't recall having heard that geographical trivia question about the Cal-Neva border coinciding with a confluence at that spot. But, I would know how to find the stateline at Stateline, Nevada. It's pretty easy to tell because there are no casin

Where the Hell is Matt? http://www.wherethehellismatt.com/ I know I had this on my blog somewhere before but couldn't find it today. Google Earth has a special feature ( Google Earth KML: Be Where Matt Was ) where you can visit these places.

I enjoy checking out the National Geographic News (among other things on their Web site). This month they reported about Exotic Animals Rescued at L.A. Airport ( Photo Gallery included). The photo gallery article opens: "Smugglers often resort to extreme measures to bring illegal animals into the United States. [Two] lesser slow lorises, a type of monkey, were discovered in a man's underwear at the Los Angeles Airport in 2002." Those poor monkeys. If you look at the image on National Geographic you'll note they look quite traumatized. Can you imagine the looks that guy was getting on the plane when his monkeys were wiggling? Or when people heard him whispering at his crotch, "Would you sit still. Oh. No. Oh my. Ouch. Stop biting!" Thank goodness that the monkey's survived their ordeal. CNN reported that the monkeys ended up at the Los Angeles Zoo. I found this old blog post that gave a little more information about the guy with the monkey in his pan