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Probably because I was at a really freaking big campfire. Kinda. :) Tonight was the fifth annual Phoenxville Firebird Festival. There's more of the history on the website, but a brief background is that the town, Phoenixville got its name from the owner of a local iron works who saw a Phoenix in the flames of the furnaces. He named his company Phoenix Works and the town then took on that name when it was incorporated years later. The town has seen a recent revivial (new shops, restaurants) and as part of that, the festival came about. A big wooden bird is constructed and then lit on fire to the cheers of, "BURN THAT BIRD!" - the fire and wooden structure act as a kiln for clay birds inside. This is the first year that I've been able to make the clay bird workshop (3 of mine were in there) and go see the big town bonfire. Yes, I'm well aware that it sounds very pagan - there was a full moon tonight and towards the end, everyone goes up and dances around the fire to the sound of drums. This is my crazy and awesome little town though and I absolutely love it. This year, there was a little something special added - when the fire got up to the head, the mouth of the bird dropped open and shot out sparks. Of course, I have pictures for you. Full Set on FlickrYouTube video 1YouTube video 2Highlights, ( below the cut )Tags: pictures
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Dear Yellowbook, Thanks for littering! ..the sidewalk with a phonebook encased in a plastic bag. The whole neighborhood is strewn with bright yellow bags that no one clearly wants, as witnessed by them lying there all afternoon and even the neighbor who drove over it while backing out of her driveway. I sincerely doubt that the majority of folks still use them except to prop up a monitor, desk, or for the vertically challenged as a booster seat in a truck. I've recycled mine and hope that my neighbors do the same, however, I wish that you could be fined for the exact amount it costs the town to recycle all the extra paper this week. Perhaps that would prove a point and make you think twice before delivering so many useless reems of paper. I did manage to track down a phone number to opt-out and wrote a nastygram to your headquarters. You should make it a little easier to find this information on your website which I will continue to use, should I need to find a phone number that I can't find on Google. Your representative advised me that no trees were harmed since the paper is made from sawdust that's a product of creating lumber. I'm not buying it. May Al Gore bring down an inconvenient hell upon you. Crying with the trees, Me. Call 1-800-929-3556 to opt-out of receiving Yellow Book directories. If you want to opt-out of the Verizon phone book, you can call 800-555-4833. It takes two minutes folks, save a tree or ten, call!!Tags: environment
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On the news tonight, they showed a story about US soldier throwing a puppy off a cliff. They showed part of the video taken by the soldiers (Marines I believe) without showing the unfortunate conclusion, but just thinking about it has me so angry and upset that these soldiers are disregarding life and being so hideously cruel. Okay, it's 'just a dog' and there are hundreds of thousands of humans dead in Iraq. However, that little puppy did nothing to provoke those soldiers, wasn't harboring weapons of mass distruction, and certainly didn't have the capacity to be menacing. Would we be more outraged if the soldiers had thrown a baby off a cliff? Perpetrators of violent crimes (against humans) frequently have a history of cruelty to animals. I can't even think about what else these three (two on camera, one holding the camera) are going to throw off a cliff next. Or, what innocent, non-combatant human beings have they already senselessly tortured, raped, shot while the soldiers who are supposed to be bringing stability to the country are laughing and filming? A pattern of violence starts somewhere and if this is allowed to continue without punishment, I can only imagine what might happen if/when these and other soldiers return home. This isn't to say that all marines kill puppies and are secretly serial killers, but the posting on Digg.com regarding this video had comments linking over a dozen similar acts by US soldiers. This isn't an isolated case. You can try to justify this - they've spent too much time in a violent environment, weren't mentally stable before going, etc - but that doesn't make it 'okay' or any less stomach-turning. Something is wrong here and it needs to be remedied. Tags: news
Current Mood:  OUTRAGED
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