moodus sportsman's club calendar of events

MOODUS SPORTSMEN'S CLUB
2006 CALENDAR

JANUARY   9  Monthly and Annual Board of Directors meetings
                   21  Game Dinner  6:30 p.m.
                  28 & 29  Smelt Fishing Trip

FEBRUARY    5  Super Bowl  
                    6  Monthly meeting  -  7pm
                   12  Ice Fishing Derby
                   25 Game Dinner
MARCH   DEP Hunter Safety Course 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 9th,  10th, & 12th
                    5  Archery Course
                    6  Monthly meeting  -  7pm
                  11 Women in Sports
                   18  Game Dinner

  ¶ 08:49 0 comments

  enigma   ¶ 08:29 2 comments

  wrestling That's when BillP and I get together for our weekly visit. Now, I watch pretty much because of these guys: Batista and Mysterio. They make a pretty impressive team; full of bravado and spunk.
     Yeah, I know that much of what goes on in the ring, and out, is pure entertainment, but alot of it isn't. These two have stamina and as a duo, they have a spirit that is difficult to match. Batista with his pure raw muscle, and Mysterio's lithe gymnastics are every bit as enthralling as, say, Cirque de Soleil can be ...for me at least. Thought in contrast, there's nothing much intellectual about the wrestling at all; which is just fine.  ¶ 17:09 1 comments

  pasttimes | boot maintenance      What with winter weather, and water seeping into the back of the trusty Smiths gets me to thinking I need to waterproof them. Nick's Custom Boots ["America's Boot Specialist since 1964"] offers an assortment of tips on proper maintenance, the 2-1-3 method of lacing, and other curious boot care advice for "your lifestyle." Their prices are NOT cheap but they assert that they are good for "years of wear."
     Advice for breaking a new pair:
     Break-in takes roughly 80 to 100 hours of wear. It can take another week for your feet to adjust to the transition.
     1. Fill a spray bottle with a 50/50 mixture of rubbing alcohol & water.
     2. Spray the mixture on the boots every time you feel them getting tight or stiff.
     3. While wet, friction-rub them with your hand as if your were polishing them. This allows the alcohol to penetrate.
     4. Lacing-It is important to lace the boot tightly over the instep and around the ankle , which allows the leather to seat properly. (Snug is good; snugger is better)

                               Then again, there's always the spit polish method. -->>

  ¶ 15:32 0 comments

  corporate responsibility
International Coal Group owns the Sago mine in West Virginia where 13 miners were trapped and where 12 died. ICG is a relatively new company that was formed in May 2004 by a group of private investors, including the leveraged buyout king, Wilbur Ross. In the months since then, U.S. officials say the number of safety violations at the company's mines has risen.
     Outside of his investment efforts, Mr. Ross maintains a busy social schedule attending parties and fundraisers in New York City. Here he is with a companion at a cocktail reception to celebrate Palm Beach! America’s International Fine Art & Antique Fair which will be held next February in Palm Beach. In 2004, around the time he was grabbing up Horizon Resources, [former owner of the Sego mine], Mr. Ross was also donating money to the London Philharmonic Orchestra, a group I suspect the dead coal miners widow's will never get to hear.
     International Coal Group focuses its energy on one nation, the US. The company produces coal from 12 mining complexes in Northern and Central Appalachia (Kentucky, Maryland, and West Virginia) and from one complex in the Illinois Basin. International Coal Group produces low-sulfur steam coal, which is sold mainly to electric utilities, and metallurgical coal, which is sold to steelmakers. Steam coal accounts for the majority of the company's reserves, which amount to some 885 million tons of coal.
     Horizon Natural Resources the company that ICG bought out before taking over the Sego mining operation was involved in union busting and eliminating worker pension benefits before purchase.
     According to the Washington Post:

In the past two years, the mine was cited 273 times for safety violations, of which about a third were classified as "significant and substantial," according to documents compiled by the Labor Department's Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA). Many were for problems that could contribute to accidental explosions or the collapse of mine tunnels, records show.
     In addition, 16 violations logged in the past eight months were listed as "unwarrantable failures," a designation reserved for serious safety infractions for which the operator had either already been warned, or which showed "indifference or extreme lack of care," said Tony Oppegard, a former MSHA senior adviser.

And The Louisville Courier Journal reports that:

The Sago mine in West Virginia, the site of a Monday explosion that trapped 13 miners, had 208 citations in 2005 and was fined $24,155. It employed 137 people at its highest level last year.
     Kentucky mining regulators issued 54 temporary closure orders to ICG mines in the state last year because of safety problems, said Holly McCoy, a spokeswoman for the state Office of Mine Safety and Licensing.

     Only late last year a U.S. Department of Labor Mine Safety and Health Administration Report on another Mining Operation Fatality at a different coal operation owned and managed by International Coal Group that occurred on 28 December 2004. On the other hand, ICG has developed initatives to combat workplace substance abuse.
     On another note, Mr. Ross remains a stalwart opponent to leveling the playing field in international trade and vigorously opposes to trade concessions given to developing nations like Mexico.

  ¶ 12:15 0 comments

  photography | home life   ¶ 01:50 0 comments

  antique radios We own a Philco 38-7 table model wood box radio. We've seen the breadth of it's Philco family history and read something about antique radios in general. The tubes light up. It would seem to get am/fm overseas stations and police band frequencies. We don't know. We know it was seen by a White Plains, NY "Radio Doctor" in 1955.
This baby's been sitting in the attic for probably 20 years and we've done nothing with it. I know we can get the proper manual to make it operable but not really certain we want to. We think it needs a new home withsomeone else who would properly care for it. And yes, we'd prefer to sell it. Suggestions?  ¶ 01:44 1 comments

  memes 100 things | Set up as "key words" or "phrases" to provide some hints into my psyche.
I've also got a longer, more detailed 100 Things as well. Bruce says that one is more interesting. I'll take his word for it.

001- New Year's Eve Baby
002- Teenaged Loner
003- Working Class Guy
004- Good sense of direction
005- Can milk a cow
006- Homophile
007- Game Cookery
008- Talkative
009- Classical Music
010- Taciturn
011- Montreal
012- Civil Rights Activism
013- Homebody
014- I can sew if I have to
015- Watercolorist
016- Museum goer
017- Married
018- Cartographer
019- Breeder
020- Divorced
021- Adirondack Mountains
022- Bisbee, Arizona
023- Sustainable Resources
024- Pop Culture voyeur
025- Aurora Borealis
026- PTSD Survivor
027- Landscapes
028- Wood Stoves
029- Kidney Stone
030- Buddhist
031- Germantown, Philadephia, PA
032- Sportsman's Hunting Clubs
033- North Country Observer
034- U&lc
035- ProSex
036- Leisurly Dining
037- Voltaire's Ingenious
038- Paris, France
039- Congress of Racial Equality
040- Collage
041- Anemia
042- Shy Exhibitionist
043- Pack Rat
044- African American English Teachers
045- Lifetime Sketch Artist
046- Stonewall Tavern
047- Human Rights Officer
048- Socialism
049- Mummer's Day Parades
050- DeSade's Justine
051- Historic Preservation
052- PC not MAC
053- Hunting
054- College Years Pothead
055- Sexually Precocious
056- Pick-up Trucks
057- Women Who Wed Gay Men
058- "Are you a Bear?"
059- Jagermeister and Steel Reserve Ale
060- George's Mills, New Hampshire
061- Sun Tsu's "Art of War"
062- Fred Bear
063- Workaholic
064- Ukiah, California
065- Childhood Institutionalization
066- Good Cook
067- Great Spirit
068- Math Clutz
069- Stalwart
070- Santee, California
071- Prolific Reader
072- White House Invitee
073- Wilderness Camping
074- Deja Vu
075- Internet Savvy
076- Kokadjo, Maine
077- Fort Greene, Brooklyn, NY
078- Musee des Beaux Arts
079- Stuart, Florida
080- White & Case
081- Firewood
082- Philadelphia Museum of Art
083- Slang Books
084- Economic Treason
085- New York City 1960s
086- Baby Boomer
087- 21st Century Feudalism
088- Civil Unioned
089- Mary Selma Evans
090- Land Use Planning
091- Mass MoCA
092- Bethlehem Steel
093- Sonesta Hotels
094- Essayist
095- The Bronx Sauna
096- Tate Modern
097- Enigmatic
098- "Hot Type" Typographer
099- Journal Keeper
100- As long as just one person suffers in poverty, that immense personal wealth is unjust

  ¶ 00:14 0 comments

  blogosphere "geography" update The Common Man has morphed into Love and Rage. He thoughts had been working in that direction for some time and note was made of this recently at TCM, when he wrote

There are many things that I think about, engage in, create, away from the strictly anarchic and political but I don't feel able to post them here (I have friends in the real world who read this and, while I don't mind letting the closest of them into the deeper parts of my head, I wouldn't want everyone to know what's churning over behind these eyes, at least not yet). So I also have a blog elsewhere that I use for the rest of my life and which no-one I know knows about.

I look forward to this new incarnation as the new site evolves, especially since he greets the new year thusly: "...here's to more rabble-rousing, trouble-making and general all-round mischief in 2006. Cheers!"   ¶ 14:09 0 comments

  misanthropes Kathleen Parker is not impressed with the blogosphere. In a recent op-ed piece she penned, published online at Town Hall, she laments that "...There's something frankly creepy about the explosion we now call the Blogosphere - the big-bang "electroniverse" where recently wired squatters set up new camps each day..." and that bloggers are "...effete and often clever baby "bloggies" rich in time and toys, but bereft of adult supervision. Spoiled and undisciplined, they have grabbed the mike and seized the stage, a privilege granted not by years in the trenches, but by virtue of a three-pronged plug, [ a computer] and the miracle of..." instant posting programs. She goes so far as to posit the thought that bloggers are more dangerous than AlQaida and Osama Ben Laden combined.
     She is, however, pretty impressed with herself. This is too bad, for her self-admiration apparently blinds her from thinking clearly about where she stands, herself, in the world of journalism.
     Her forte, after all, is not investigative journalism, wherein one researches a story and digs for all the sordid details. Rather, she's an opinion columnist, and what else are blogs but vessels of opinions.
     Being an opinion writer does not require that you be informed. It makes the quality of the writing's content better, but knowledge isn't necessary. Being a syndicated opinion writer requires you be able to turn a phrase well, but, again, it doesn't require being informed on the things you opine about. Since I didn't know that much about her expertise, and since I like to find out the details on a subject, I relied upon her own bio pages. This is what I found.
     On her own promo pages, Ms. Parker takes pains to let you know she can turn a phrase well. She makes note of the fact that, in 1993, she was the recipient of H L Mencken Award, "...defeating 102 professional contestants..." to attain this.
     While this might be impressive to some, I greet it with some skepticism. It isn't lost on me that Mencken "...prided himself on being a man of print. He didn't think much of having his things syndicated." In addition, Mencken's writing was a staple for me while taking collge journalism classes. But I remember less of what he said, and more of the fact that he was an articulate cynic whose prose was heavily seasoned with sarcasm. Given this, I have to wonder the criteria for being recognized for her work as an opinion columnist. I expect the standard would differ than an award for investigative work. Finally, that j-school class [and a subsequent three year tenure in a small chain of newspapers] allowed me to be equally cynical about the value of awards in general. For there are plenty of good, even excellent, writers out there who never get awarded simply because the do not bother applying for the accolade in question.
     Then there's Ms. Parker's stated credentials, those "...years in the trenches... she so nobly intoned about. Her bio notes that she is "...is director of the School of Written Expression at the Buckley School of Public Speaking and Persuasion in Camden, South Carolina..... Buckely School is hardly the Columbia School of Journalism or S I Newhouse School of Public Communications. The Buckley School's headquarters is in an expanded house [check the picture]; it was founded by none other than F. Reid Buckley, younger brother of Conservative elder statesman William F. Buckley and the faculty roster of 14 people plus "consulting" faculty that include no less than four other members of the renowned Buckley clan. While I'm not disputing the writng skills of the Buckley clan, reading the credentials of some of the other faculty is, at times, almost laughable, until you realize that, if any of them follow Ms. Parker's example, they also take themselves quite seriously. Good thing, I suppose, for once their, um, "credentials" are known, would anyone else? I suspect not.
     The motivation for starting the school was nothing less than watching Union Carbide executives squirm when asked tough questions by the media about their role in the Bhopal toxic gas leak disaster in India that killed 3,000 people. The principal purpose of the school was to conduct "...workshops to teach executives how to express themselves with poise under duress...." "Alumni" from Buckley School include a PR flak for Philip Morris, an former Army Intelligence officer who also served time with management consulting frim McKinsey & Company as well as a "Nationally Known Home Style & Entertaining Guru."
     Perhaps the coup de grace in Ms. Parker's supposed credentials as some high-principled expert are the outlets that seek her for speaking engagements, which include the following television programs: The O’Reilly Factor, Court TV, Greta Van Susteran’s The Point, and she regularly joins other journalists on Chris Matthews’ Sunday roundtable.
     There's something to be said for truth in advertising. Sadly, in my book, Ms. Parker flunks this test. Though I do agree with her on the point that if you are expressing your opinion, that identfy yourself. She does at l east do that.
     Say what she may about her objections to the unsavory rabble that run about in blogland. She's no different really....and, I suspect, is actually only objecting to "lefty" bloggers like Orincus, Corrente, Steve Gilliard, Peter Kurth or Scott Bidstrup. She might be more comfortable with Andrew Sullivan [except that he's a queer and she purports to be so pro-family], Gerard Van Der Leun, the Roseville Conservative or even Matt Drudge.
     From my point of view, it is not enough to be opinionated and sharp-tounged. You have to be able to provide facts and data to make the opinion have any weight ...or credibility. I'm not certain that Ms. parker has the latter ...with approximatly 350 papers in syndication she may very likely have the "weight". But Ms. Parker ought to heed that advices that says: "
     I'll close this rant protesting Ms. Parker's santimonious drivel by quoting D J Drummond, who writes the weblog Stolen Thunder. He says in response to her column "...You know what I find “creepy”? That someone like you would be teaching future journalists. Watch and see, madam. Blogging is neither going away, nor is it ignored. Within ten years, you will start to see major journalism schools take it up as a necessary skill. Within five you will see a blog report segment on the major news networks, at least the ones which can keep their viewers. It’s simple really, just supply and demand – as long as you refuse to supply real news, people will demand it from us...."
  ¶ 18:23 1 comments

  message from the sky Did you lose a blue balloon in June? I found a message in a plastic bag in the woods today attached to that balloon.
     It was stuck on a twig of a branch in a low hanging tree. Mind you, it was in the middle of a 50 plus acre area that is undeveloped and populated mostly by deer, fox, possum, wild turkey rkey, the occasional coyote and [some say] possibly a bear. Very few people would be likely to just chance upon it.
     I've no idea how long it's been on the tree. The ballon was quite well shredded on one side. Very likely it was hidden by foliage until winter.
     Although the sender made good efforts a trying to preserve the message [e.g. writing in pencil and apparently sealing the outer edge of the bag] water got into the container, froze and mushed up the message.
     I can tell the sender is from Green... somewhere [New Hampshire? North Carolina? can't tell] has an e-mail addy that appears to be "jhurley @ ncap.rr.com" and that it was sent on June 23, 2005.
     On the off-hand chance you know who sent this missive along, let them know. I'd like to hear from them.This is not a new phenomena. In November a man in Quebec found a balloon sent off by a boy in Michigan. And in Belfast, Ireland schoolchildren sent off thousands of "friendship balloons" last June, many of them landing in Northern England towns such as Yorkshire, Cumbria, Durham and Stockton-on-Tees.
     The Washington Post also reported that missionaries in South Korea have been sending messages to people in North Korea by balloon for some time now. No doubt there are other examples to find.
     Right now, however, I'd just like to hear from "jhurley @ ncap.rr.com" because I'm really intrigued and curious how far this balloon traveled and from where. So if you think you know him or her, coul dyou pass this blog entry along? Thanks.  ¶ 17:15 0 comments

  welcome 2006 omygosh! Another year is upon us.
So we begin from here. A few of my public resolutions:
  •  Spend more time working out at the gym
  •  Paint more often... heck, paint at all. The same goes for drawing, sketching, collage, calligraphy ...and get aggressive about marketing my stuff
  •  Get better organized
  •  Practice my archery skills more frequently
  •  Prioritize my life
  •  Follow healthier eating practices
  •  Get to Montreal, the Adirondacks, Boston and plan another European vacation
That ought to be enough for now. I have some other resolutions, but I really don't plan on sharing them with the world as yet.  ¶ 01:15 0 comments