Posted on 06/01/2006 1:08:49 PM PDT by Buck Ninety-Nine
WASHINGTON, May 31 After vowing to steer a greater share of antiterrorism money to the highest-risk communities, Department of Homeland Security officials on Wednesday announced 2006 grants that slashed money for New York and Washington 40 percent, while other cities including Omaha and Louisville, Ky., got a surge of new dollars.
Homeland security officials said the grants were a result of a more sophisticated evaluation process
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Very different weather we have. You're desert and I'm near a large lake in Upstate NY. ;)
Usually, we slosh around in snow, slush, rain, or slopping high humidity. Just the way it is here.
I guess if I were used to that type of weather, I could tolerate it better, but I'm a desert girl...born in Reno, and the happiest when it's hot and dry.
I do like other places, but I always come back here.
I like to buy baby clothes for other people. Who cares if it's washable?!?
LOL -- the story of my first bagpipe competition. I had volunteered to work at the event, but at the last minute (well, a half-hour before) I was persuaded to sign up for the novice competition because they needed more entries.
So I did what every novice does; I spent the half-hour before the competition going over the tune, practicing starts and stops, tuning and re-tuning -- in other words playing way too much and running the risk of "blowing out" in the competition. (Your lips tire out and no longer can hold on tightly to the blowstick; the effort produces a distinctive noise as the air escapes.)
Finally it was time, and I was really nervous, knowing everyone in the room knew more about piping than I did, and I'm the first competitor of the evening to boot.
So I stood in front of the judge, fired up the pipes, prepared to tune... and realized I was in deep trouble.
One tunes the drones (there are three of them) by listening to the beat notes. Often a piper will stop two of the drones, tune the third to the chanter, and then in turn start each of the stopped drones and tune it. (I don't like doing this with cane reeds, because they seem to drift a little after as a result of being stopped; I prefer to tune with all drones going, which requires more skill.)
In any event, I had the pipes going and was prepared to tune... but... I didn't hear any beat notes. I stood there puzzling this out in what seemed like forever: "What do I do? If I can't hear the beat notes, then I can't tune. I also can't stand here forever, I've got to do something..." I decided to just play and take whatever came. I'm the newest novice in the hall, after all.
The house saw it differently. They saw a novice in his very first competition strike up the pipes, listen for a second to the absolutely perfect tuning, and launch into a well-played air. I got a standing ovation, and my teacher (one of the best pipers in the state) was SO proud that evening!
Most competition pipers never achieve the perfectly-tuned start; I achieved it only once again after that.
Thus I learned: "if you can't tell the difference, it doesn't make a difference"
LOL!
Let them worry about it, huh? *snicker*
I have a somewhat similar attitude. I used to make everything as perfect to pattern as I could, ripping out seams and stitches and doing them all over again until they were perfect.
Then I learned the legend of a true Navajo blanket...it has a flaw in the pattern ~~ a "spirit trail" so the unlucky spirits won;t inhabit the item and bring bad luck to the owner. If there is no "spirit trail [it leads to an edge]" the blanket is a fake.
I also saw it in Germany, in housing construction...the rooms are a little out of true, for the same reason...the unlucky spirits won't like it.
So now, I always leave in at least one mistake because most people won't even know it's there unless I point it out.
And we're all happy!
Well lets not talk too much about that. What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.
True wisdom there.
Well I did find out two things. The dog has a stock portfolio on the net and an account at myspace.
I also seem to have won a lot of dogie products I never bid on coming from Ebay!
Howdy...how was your 4th?
Good. Yours?
Nice and quiet. Well, sorta. The neighbors had lots of fireworks, and the poor little dog went nuts. She wore herself out barking, so she gave it up after a while. Just made an occasional growl to acknowledge that she heard them. But the smell of the cordite kept her from going out...maybe next year, they'll get her some tranqs.
I just ran 2-1/2 miles! I'll either be running marathons soon, or reduced to crawling :-).
LOL! Good for you! I think it's great that you are running. I never ran because of my ...er...large pecs, but I envy anyone who can. (I always had to walk fast.) ;o]
I have highly-engineered running undergarments to keep everything stable.
I haven't found any that would do it for me. Life is sometimes not kind...
;o]
Howya Face!!
I make sure I've fed the baby first!
Howya TC!!
How yu?
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