Ike, Crazy Monkeys, Turtle Bay, Mars, and Crystal Beach, Texas

September the 12th

Ike from the international space station 9/12/08
From space, it's beautiful.

Crazy republican monkeys;
(from Scientific American)
"We will drill new oil wells offshore,
and we'll drill them now," McCain pledged to his faithful, who gushed with enthusiastic chants of "drill, baby, drill!" The ultimate goal, the candidate said: to "stop sending $700 billion a year (for oil) to countries that don't like us very much."

Will a 2 Billion dollar oil rig lower gas prices?

According to Phyllis Martin, a senior EIA energy analyst, Atlantic and Pacific oil fields tend to be smaller on average than those in the Gulf of Mexico, but it is just as costly to drill them, making the economics of drilling these areas especially tough to justify.

In fact, oil companies have yet to take advantage of the nearly 86 billion barrels of offshore oil in areas already available for leasing and development. So why are they chomping at the drill bit to open up the moratorium waters and survey them anew?

Kaufman dismisses as "nonsense" any promises that offshore drilling could make the U.S. "oil independent." Even if it could somehow insulate itself from the ups and downs of the global oil market, he notes, the U.S. would have to make a huge leap in domestic oil production to replace what it buys from overseas.

"At its peak in production, which occurred in 1970s, the U.S. produced about 10 million [barrels of oil] a day," Kaufman says. "Now, after 30 years of fairly steady decline, we produce about five million barrels a day," whereas we consume 20 million barrels daily. "Whoever talks about oil independence has to tell a story about how we close a 15-million-barrel gap."

The McCain campaign did not return repeated calls seeking comment.

6 Billion Noisy Monkeys On God's Green Earth
God created this planet and all the life upon it, therefore He is the landlord and we are tenants.
How have you been treating His planet?
I find the,"rapture", people interesting. They go about using up resources, mistreat lifeforms, (including their own), and behave like there is no tomorrow, and they think that God will, "lift", them up to Heaven. The way these tenants behave, I would, "evict", them.

Turtle Bay and the Sundial bridge today.

Miss Laura leads 3rd grade class on field trip 9/12/08

Fishin' by burnt bank near bridge 9/12/08

Fishin' under bridge 9/12/08

Lone fisherman 9/12/08

Couple views burned bank by bridge 9/12/08
Critics say no one uses the Sundial bridge and that it was a big waste of money. Some people just like to be unhappy. I saw over 200 smiling, happy people during the 30 minutes I was there today.

I talked with a woman named Laura who was taking a science and nature school, 3rd grade class on a field trip. She told me that many more people come to see the river now that the bridge is here.

I talked with a man named Thomas, who was from Bakersfield. He came up to see where the water comes from for the San Joachin Valley.

I like the Sundial Bridge. It really is a sundial. To see pictures I took of the bridge last April, CLICK HERE.

Martian Dust Devil

Filmed on Mars

Hurricane Ike

Ike Strikes Texas Coast 9/12/08

More Plywood

This Just In at 6:30PDT;
E-mail from my sister who lives in Houston and has a beach house at Crystal beach...

I may not have a beach house . Bolivar is under water and Ike hasn`t hit yet . They expect 25 ft . waves . They had to rescue people in Bolivar by helicopter as you can`t get in or out . We expect to lose electricity by morning . It may be awhile before you hear from me again .
All my family is "hunkered down " as they say in Texas .
I`m fine !!
Love , Sue

Sue's beach house Crystal Beach, Texas

Today's relatively appropriate song;
Riders On The Storm-The Doors

Love Survives