Thoughts On A Sunday

It seems New Hampshire has weathered the heavy rains and winds, though there were two fatalities associated with yesterday's storm.

The first was a kayaker who drowned after his kayak overturned on the East Branch of the Saco River in North Conway.

The second was a passenger on the M/S Mount Washington who fell overboard last night during a Halloween party cruise. Ironically, this cruise was the last trip for M/S Mount Washington this season. Searches for the missing passenger was suspended after one hour this morning due to the hazardous conditions out on the lake.

The high winds yesterday and today knocked out power all over the state, some of which won't be restored until late tomorrow at the earliest.

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The mid-term elections are 9 days away. Looking at the myriad TV ads playing for the three biggest races – governor, and the two congressional districts – it's been eye opening to see the difference in campaign strategies for these three offices. Two of them, the gubernatorial and 1^st congressional district races have been positive, for the most part. There have been a few negative ads, but they have been infrequent and tame. However, the race in the 2^nd couldn't be more of a contrast.

The incumbent, Republican Congressman Charlie Bass, has been running a positive campaign, talking about his accomplishments and his independent streak. On the other hand, his Democratic opponent Paul Hodes has been on full power negative since his first ad. Every ad slams Bass. I haven't seen one ad from Hodes that is positive in nature. It all comes down to a campaign slogan of “I'm not Bass!”

That is not a winning strategy.

If I am going to vote for someone, I want to know what they're going to do and what they want to accomplish. I don't give a rat's ass that he or she is not their opponent. It's a given.

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With the change from Daylight Savings Time to Standard Time having just taken place, there is again a question about whether Daylight Savings Time should be year round. The argument goes that it would save energy because lights wouldn't have to be used until an hour later than during Standard Time, particularly in the depths of winter. One study done by the California Energy Commission suggests that we stay at one hour ahead of Standard Time during the winter and two hours ahead in the summer.

Both the year round DST and two hour jump ideas have been tried before. During the Arab Oil Embargo in late 1973 and 1974, President Nixon ordered year round DST in order to save energy. And during World War II the two hour jump was made (called War Time), in order to shift the number of activities taking place after dark in order to reduce domestic energy usage, amongst other reasons.

Both of these ideas are worth looking into.

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A neat thing I came across was that Star Trek: The Original Series has been digitally remastered, including new CGI special effects.

I recorded the latest released episode, Cat's Paw, last night. Looks pretty cool!

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Glen Reynolds links to an article that asks “Is the Euro slowly killing half of Europe?”

Considering that most economic decisions are now made in Brussels and the Maastricht Treaty lays down some rather heavy handed requirements, I'd have to say the answer is 'yes'.

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What if everything you knew about the environmental movement was wrong?

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The New England Patriots meet the Minnesota Vikings on Monday Night Football.

I'm looking forward to that game.

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The two feline members of the WP Family, Bagheera and Cole, have been staying busy chasing bugs. In this case ladybugs. We've seen far more in the house this year than last, but the boys are taking care of them, either pointing them out to us so we can return them to the outdoors or by eating them. Of the two, Cole tends to eat them while Bagheera looks at them and occasionally 'plays' with one or two.

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And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the winds are blowing, the leaves are falling, and where a little black cat has helped me finish this post.